


Spectrum

by 1nky



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Body Horror, Gasterblaster AU, Gen, Mind Control, some self harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-04 22:26:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 250,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5350673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1nky/pseuds/1nky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s over. </p><p>Frisk’s journey has ended in the best way possible, and now Monsterkind is moving forward. Sans is eager to join them, but when a personal demon appears to (quite literally) manifest, it’s up to Papyrus, Frisk and Undyne to find a way to save him - and figure out the enigma that has plagued him for years…</p><p>[Penultimate chapter!!]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Star

**Author's Note:**

> This is a mess, but I'm committed.
> 
> Here we go. The story behind Language Barrier. 
> 
> Thanks for reading.

 

_**Cold.** _

 

_… it was cold._

 

_He was hurt. He burned._

_He burned all over._

_…why? Where was he…?_

_What had he…?_

_…_ **_scared_ ** _…_

_…he felt scared…_

_He was on the ground. He was sprawled on the ground. Cold. Wet._

_… where was he? What was this?_

_A low rumble sounded in his throat, and he tried in vain to lift his suddenly far-too-heavy head. His mind was fogged over… his thoughts fragmented into pieces. It was as if someone had bludgeoned his skull._

_He kept his eyes shut._

_Too bright._

_Whatever was before him was far too bright compared to… wherever he was before. He struggled to recollect the events that had just happened prior._

**_Angry_ ** _… He remembered being so angry. Scared. Something horrible had happened - but suddenly…_

_… there had been a voice. It had been… a strange voice. Who had it belonged to?_

_… he’d felt better, listening to it. Calm. He’d calmed right down. Everything had been okay._

_A pang._

_But he didn’t keep listening to the nice voice._

_He gave a low growl. He hadn’t…_ **_wanted_ ** _to._

_He’d… refused to listen._

_The anger dissipated, suddenly replaced with confusion._

_But why?_

_He’d been so angry. So afraid - and the voice… it had cleansed his mind… it had helped. It had made him feel safe. He’d felt safe, and then…_

_A spark of fear suddenly passed through his mind, and he abruptly jerked away from that thought._

_… no._

_The voice, it_ **_wasn’t_ ** _safe. It_ **_hadn’t_ ** _helped. It hadn’t helped him at all…The voice, the owner of the voice - it had made him like_ **_this_** _. Tired._

_Slow._

_It had made it so hard to think._

_He pressed harder, trying to make his mind process everything, trying to recollect his memories._

_Trying to think._

_He could barely do so. There was almost nothing coherent… he was angry. He was sad._

_He was_ **_scared_ ** _._

 _He let out a low whine. Something was wrong… everything was_ **_wrong_** _. What had happened to him?_

_Reluctantly, he opened his eyes to a squint._

_… too bright._

_It was an expanse of white. Black… trees cut through the white of the snowy surroundings. Yet even they seemed to blend into the white a little - a heavy fog surrounded him. It was still daytime._

_Daytime. Snow. Fog. Trees._

_His brain fixed onto the words, and suddenly, it felt like his muddled mind was beginning to clear up. His panic began to lessen, clarity creeping slowly through._

_He was close… close to home. He slowly pushed himself up off of the snowy ground with a groan, slightly alarmed by how large and awkward his whole body felt._

_The creature shook his head. He’d… been in a terrible place… and he’d thought of a better one. He’d tried to go_ **_home_ ** _._

_… he was so heavy. So different. That was’t right._

_Hard to think. He wanted to sleep. But something inside him… something tired and small…protested. He needed to keep moving. He needed to remember more. Focus._

_He dragged himself forward, on all fours. He’d wandered only a few metres before suddenly stopping in his tracks._

_All fours? But he remembered… using arms. **Hands**. Had he ever been able to stand on two legs? _

_It felt **natural** to walk like this, and yet…_

_He lifted a large claw (He was startled by the sight of it. That wasn’t right, either…), placed it against the trunk of a tree, and slowly lifted himself onto his hind legs. He felt unsteady, but it felt… correct._

_His mind cleared up some more. Yes, he was meant to be standing like this. He always had, before. He wasn’t meant to be the way he looked, now. He slowly sat down on his haunches, a low rumble sounding from his throat._

_He couldn’t speak, either. He remembered that was meant to. Why couldn’t he speak? What had happened to him?_

_“AWOOOOOOO!”_

_A distant howl sounded from his left and he spun abruptly, eyes wide. In the foggy distance, he could make out a fairly large shape, standing atop one of the looming cliff faces nearby. Not quite as large as he was but… still imposing. Intimidating._

_Was he in danger?_

_A surge of panic took him. The small and tired voice within him protested, but the fear quickly began to overwhelm him. His thoughts, carefully placed together piece-by-piece, seemed to suddenly fall apart._

_Threat. Danger._

_There was a burning sensation in his throat._

_Needed to leave. Needed to run. Not safe._

_A chilly wind managed to blow some of the fog aside. A giant figure in armour, clutching a huge spear…_

_Weapon._

_Spear. Point._ **_Danger_** _. He felt his throat burn more. He needed to protect himself. He was in danger!_

_The small, tired thing inside him protested again. Louder. It spoke weakly against his instincts. A small part of his mind was asking him to focus. Look harder._

_The panic still intensified, his throat still burned with suppressed fire, but he found himself listening._

_Giant… armoured figure. It was familiar._

_He breathed in deeply, extinguishing the flames in his chest. Giant armoured figure… he’d seen it before. He tried again to piece together his thoughts. It was easier this time. The things he’d recovered last time had not vanished - they’d simply been shoved aside._

_It still startled him, as he managed to regain his rationality. It had been so easy to panic, to feel like he had to resort to violence._

_It hadn’t even moved to attack… it had simply remained atop the cliff, keeping a watchful eye on him. There was no reason to fear. No reason to fight._

_He took a step back from the figure._

_Then, he squinted._

_… Were those dog ears atop its head?_

_Another howl sounded from the armoured figure, and he heard some more distant howls from others who had heard the call. He blinked, a memory re-emerging._

_Sentries. They were sentries._

_They were the sentries of the local town. One of them… “Greatest Dog,” had seen him._

_He was in the woods… on the outskirts of the town. He was close to the old Ruins._

_The creature felt relieved to recover all this information. At least it seemed like his memories weren’t gone for good, and they seemed to be returning with prompts. And despite the small setback, his mind was starting to function a lot better._

_His heart sank._

_...He’d almost attacked the sentry leader, at the mere sight of him._

_The beast thought hard about the howl alarm. He’d been told about them before, hadn't he? (...When he’d first arrived in town.)_

_Two howls - one long, one short._ **_‘Stand by.’_ **

_Which meant they didn’t know what he was. They weren’t sure if he was a threat. But he looked and smelled very strange._

_They were cautious, and it was for the best._

_He wasn’t even sure if it was safe for anyone to be around him. What if he wound up hurting someone?_

_… what if he had hurt someone already?_

_He backed off, slowly. He’d go the other way. The sentries were ready to defend the town from any threat, and he didn’t want to… lose his senses, again._

_He turned, slowly walking away._

_… but then, how would he get home? How would he… become normal, again?_

_He shook his head. His mind wasn’t giving him all the answers, yet. He couldn’t clearly remember what had happened to him… he couldn’t remember where he’d come from or how he’d gotten here, or what exactly he was supposed to look like._

_He couldn’t even remember his own name._

_He stopped by a large tree. With a heavy sigh, he placed his forehead against it, trying once more to think for answers._

_Instead, his recovering mind now seemed to be thinking too much, and his own mental exhaustion seemed to be settling in._

_Would he be stuck like this forever?_

_He tried to ignore the thought, only for more to pop up._

_Would he ever remember who he was? How many important things had he forgotten? Would he ever remember those? Had he hurt anyone?_

_He pressed his head harder against the tree. It creaked a little under the strain._

_… did he_ **want** _to remember?_

_He was so tired._

_He didn’t know what to do next. He didn’t know who or what could possibly help him at this point, if at all. Maybe it was just him feeling lazy, but…_

_He felt a dull ache in his chest. He’d wanted to know what had happened. But he was also afraid of precisely that. His body was becoming heavier and heavier with exhaustion. He knew there were burns on his bones. He didn’t care about where they came from, anymore._

_He’d had enough. He didn’t want to deal with this._

_Not anymore. He just wanted to shut everything out._

_He slowly sank to the snow-covered ground with a quiet sigh, placing his head upon his claws. His eyes slid closed._

_He was tired. He just wanted to sleep. For now, he just wanted to ignore everything._

 

_Forget._

 

_... he wanted to forget._

 

 

* * *

 

 

**_12 Years Later_ **

 

* * *

 

 

The town of Snowdin hadn’t changed much over the years. There were scarcely ever new buildings. The town still retained its cheerful atmosphere. It was still freezing to the uninitiated. And its population always remained unchanged, for the most part.

Until now, however.

A big change had overtaken the Underground in its entirety. The barrier was broken. Monsters could finally leave for the surface world. While the initial encounter with humanity had not occurred without some hostility, negotiations had brought about an understanding and a compromise. Asgore and Toriel were still knee-deep in politics, but the millions of monsters who had remained underground were now permitted to leave for the surface.

It was a large undertaking in Snowdin. Grillby’s had remained open, despite the big move. The (literally) fiery bartender wasn’t about to close up shop until he was the only monster remaining in Snowdin - moving belongings around in huge boxes and sleds worked up an appetite for many citizens, and he wasn’t about to leave them out in the cold.

The bulkier citizens assisted those without arms with their luggage, and those without arms directed the bulkier citizens in the right direction, having had their vision obscured by stacked boxes. The rock families hitched a ride atop such stacks, rolling to and fro with the gait of their transport.

Frisk, donning a thick, orange scarf and a small purple cape, took in the sight.

It hadn’t been easy navigating through the horde of travelling monsters. Snowdin had it rough - while there was an entrance to the surface in the nearby Ruins, many monsters were unable to scale the sheer walls of the cave. They had to travel all the way to New Home.

On their way to Snowdin, Frisk had expertly ducked and weaved through crowds with unparalleled skill. After a long journey of perfecting the art of avoiding fighting, they’d mostly gone unnoticed. Perhaps for the best - suddenly becoming the center of attention for millions of monsters (in a positive or negative manner) had been a bit overwhelming.

They quietly pulled their hood back over their head.

They’d sort all that out later. Right now, they had a place to be.

Dodging past the canine Snowdin Sentries (who were all transporting their belongings via self-driven dog sled) Frisk meandered over to the Skeleton Household. Jogging up the front steps, they could already hear muffled shouts from inside.

Frisk raised a fist to the door, when a voice suddenly sounded from up above.

“knock knock.”

The human jolted in alarm, looking around.

“Uh… who’s there?” They responded.

“cargo.”

Frisk made a face, and backed down the stairs, looking up at the awning above the door. A small figure sat there, his bony legs hanging over the side.

“Even _I_ know that one, Sans.” Frisk muttered. Despite that, they were happy to see him again.

The skeleton shrugged, his expression still stuck in his perpetual smile. “c’mon, kid. humour me a bit.”

The child gave a smile back. “Okay. Cargo who?”

There was a loud shout from inside the household. Before Frisk could register what was happening, a loud “PING” sounded in their ears and they felt themselves being pulled straight _up_ into the air, eye-to-eye with Sans.

One second later, Papyrus’ car bed crashed through the doorway and slid to a stop on the snow outside, right in the path where Frisk had been standing a few seconds ago.

“huh.” Sans remarked, setting Frisk down on the awning beside him, and removing the BLUE effect on their soul. “car doesn’t go beep beep, apparently. cargo through the front door.”

The human felt a little disoriented. “M-maybe _‘cargo incoming’_ would have been better? What’s _happening_ down there?”

Sans sat cross legged, placing his hands in his jacket pockets. “we’re getting ready to move out, like everyone else.” He shrugged. “papyrus asked you to lend a hand, right?”

“Yeah.” Frisk looked over at Sans, raising an eyebrow. “...You’re not helping?”

“i was.” The skeleton shrugged. “then papyrus rang up undyne.”

A loud “NGAAAAHHH” sounded, and suddenly, the living room couch appeared, hurtling through the front door and skidding to a halt next to Papyrus’ bed.

“it got a little dangerous. at least it’s quick.” Sans added, eyes squinted in amusement.

With the door permanently out of the way, Frisk could now clearly identify the voices inside the house.

“Alright! The table next!”

“LET ME GET OUR PET ROCK OFF OF IT, FIRST!” A clatter as Papyrus scrambled closer to the front door. “I DON’T THINK IT CAN HANDLE THE EXCITEMENT!”

“First time for everything!” Undyne hooted. “HEADS UP!”

“AAAAAAAA!”

The table was hurled out the door next, Papyrus lying on his back flat on its surface, the pet rock clutched tightly in his gloved hands. The table slid a little more before the collective weight of the couch and bed stopped it in its tracks. Initially a little stunned, the skeleton blinked, spotting the spectators upon the awning.

“FRISK! I DIDN’T KNOW YOU’D ARRIVED!” He stood up in a fluid motion, still clutching the rock with a beaming smile.  “ARE YOU HERE TO HELP US IN OUR EFFORTS?”

Frisk grinned back at Papyrus. Despite the absurdity of the situation, it was nice to see him again. “Is there anything I _can_ do? Undyne seems to have it covered.”

“SHE’S JUST DOING THE HEAVY LIFTING!” Papyrus beamed. “WE’LL DEAL WITH THE KNICK-KNACKS!” Then, he glanced over at Sans, who seemed to be settling into a nap on the spot.

“SANS! YOU SAID YOU’D PACK WHAT YOU NEEDED! YOU HAVEN’T EVEN STARTED!”

“i’m travellin’ light, bro.” The shorter skeleton replied, waving his hand. “just takin’ a break for now.”

“LAZYBONES!” Papyrus stomped his foot on the table. “AT THIS RATE, WE’LL BE THE VERY LAST MONSTERS MOVED OUT OF THE UNDERGROUND!!”

“no kidding?” Sans’ eyesockets opened up and he glanced around. Sure enough, the crowds in Snowdin were thinning out. Even the diligent Grillby was standing outside his tavern, as fewer and fewer customers remained. Most folks had moved onward to Waterfall.

The underground was becoming emptied.

“SO LET’S GET A MOVE-ON! FRISK! LET’S GO PACK UP MY FIGURINES!” Papyrus waved up at the human. “I TRUST YOU TO PACK THEM SAFELY!”

Frisk waved back. “I’ll be right there!”

Papyrus retreated back inside, and the human suddenly turned to Sans. He’d gone silent. His smile still remained, but his eyes seemed to be staring somewhere else.

Frisk frowned.

“… Sans? Are you okay?”

The skeleton blinked, and glanced back over at Frisk.

“heh, sorry. just…”

He turned to look back over the town.

“... just, uh... feeling a little deja vu. not the good kind.” He paused, thoughtful. "snowdin was never this empty."

Frisk froze.

The skeleton noted their discomfort, and shook his head. He turned back to the human, ruffling their hair.

“you know what, forget it. sorry, kid. no more of that, yeah?”

The human nodded, though they still felt a weight in their chest. They knew exactly what Sans was talking about.

There had been only one reset on Frisk’s part. One.

Their actions had been progressively beyond their control. The Underground had been emptied.

They had fought against an enabling fear and _lost_.

But at the tail-end of their journey, it was Sans had stopped them in that golden hall. After that strange, angered and vengeful force had steadily lost hold out of frustration, Frisk had tapped into all the determination they had and stepped back to the very beginning.

Done their best to trust in the kindness of strangers. Done their best not to kill.

And they’d succeeded.

When Sans and Frisk stood facing each other in the golden hall once again, he had believed in the human. Yet, he'd quietly studied them - judged them from afar with a knowing smile. He did not explicitly remember what had happened in Frisk's first foray through the timeline.

But Sans was aware that this was not the first time they had stood together in that hall.

Most of all, he was certainly aware that the human standing before him and horrible being he vaguely remembered clearing out the Underground, were not one and the same.

“...you’re alright, kid?”

Frisk blinked back to the present, realizing that they had been tearing up a little. They wiped them away on their scarf. “Yeah…”

In a way, they felt they owed a lot to Sans. They’d spoken to him in private, the day the barrier had been broken and the small group had first taken the trek down Mt Ebott. Trailing behind the group, Frisk told him everything that had happened in the previous timeline. The skeleton had listened in silence, expression unchanging.

Flooded with nerves and guilt, the end of Frisk's explanation nearly caused the human to break down into tears. In response, Sans had drawn them into a one-armed hug.

 _"c'mon. deep breaths. can't have the ambassador of monsterkind introduce us in tears, yeah?"_ He raised his eyebrows.  _"we'll look like bone-fide bad guys."_  

Frisk found themself snickering, despite everything.

He'd grinned back, and the human somehow got the feeling that it was a lot more relaxed than usual.

"... _i'm proud of you, kid. take all the time you need, okay?"_

And that had been enough to fill the human with determination.

If it hadn't been for Sans intervening at the golden hall during that previous timeline, Frisk wouldn’t have had the opportunity to make new friends. Gain a family.

The human found themselves quietly hugging him around the middle, startling the skeleton.

The least they could do in return was to make sure this wonderful timeline continued marching _forward_. They'd already begun anchoring the timeline in this direction, with the sheer power of their own determination.

“I’m keeping my promise, okay?” Frisk said. "I'm never jumping back."

Sans slung an arm around the human, his eyes dim.

“i know, kid. i’m sorry." He sighed. "didn’t mean to bring up bad memories like that.”

Frisk withdrew from him, shaking their head. “It’s okay.”

They took in a deep breath.

It was time to keep moving on.

They clenched their mittened fists before them. “Okay! I have to help Papyrus.”

The skeleton’s eyes regained their proper brightness. “need a lift down?”

“Sure!” Frisk nodded. Seconds later, however, a fridge came hurtling out of the front door, landing with a loud CRASH on the snow. The human made a face.

“… how about i just set you down to the side?” Sans’ right eye glowed its telltale pale blue and Frisk found themselves lifted up slightly in the air. They gently floated down, cautiously glancing around for any more oncoming pieces of furniture.

Time for the next challenge.

 

-

 

When Sans had set the human safely down in the snow and out of the path of oncoming furniture, he sat cross-legged on the awning for a few moments. A part of him considered taking another nap - it was actually pretty peaceful up there.

His eyesockets grew half-lidded.

A lot had happened. A shift in the grand scheme of things. It caused excitement for most of the Underground, but for Sans - it gave him the chance to finally sleep with a relatively untroubled mind. 

Ultimately, however, Sans decided that he had things to do.

He stood up. His eye socket activated, flashing blue and yellow for a brief moment.

And he jumped.

By ‘jumped,’ he hadn’t leapt off the awning onto the snow. He had simply stepped through the fabric of reality, to a place he’d been before. He didn’t travel far - in fact, when he opened his eyes, he was inside his own house.

More accurately, he was underneath it.

Sans drew in a deep breath, plunging his hands back into his jacket pockets.

Their basement. 

This visit had been a bit of an afterthought, really.

Sans checked the door behind him, making sure it was still locked. For the longest time, this had been his workspace.

He didn’t touch anything as he walked through the room. He wasn’t planning on taking anything with him. None of his projects, none of his works-in-progress. All of them had failed in some ways, but others had been happy accidents.

He placed a hand on his right eye, absentmindedly.

Becoming more attuned to the way the fabric of space worked -  _that_ had been a heck of an accident. But it _had_ turned out to be quite useful.

That was what it meant to be a scientist, sometimes.

Maybe a lot of things had malfunctioned, blown up...

"...but ya just write it down." Sans muttered to himself.

It was a slow progress, but sometimes it paid off, or things just worked when they wanted to. Sometimes a lot of the process was sitting around and _waiting_ for things to work.

...Which suited Sans just fine, if he thought about it.

His eyes landed on the end of the room. He considered lifting up the sheet off the old, broken machine, but stopped himself.

That thing was a lost cause, despite all his efforts. A long-abandoned machine, meant to outmatch the determination of a strange anomaly.

Well, he wasn't the only one who'd given up on it. It looked like its creator had too, before he'd even completed it.

Sans spent a long time trying to figuring it out, himself, with the creator absent. The skeleton  _was_ pretty bright, he wouldn’t discredit himself that much…

But the machine’s creator made his own systems, his own codes, his own theorems. It had almost been impossible to work them out. He'd spent a long time deciphering them all - only to realise that even the programming was in a strange and unusual language. He'd lost steam. 

Now… there wasn’t really a reason to work them out, anymore. For a much better reason than he could have ever imagined.

They were leaving the Underground. Sans had worked on the dang thing for years, attempting to stabilise the time anomaly - to ensure that the time loop would no longer occur.

But now, the elusive power to RESET had been handed down to a strange young human called Frisk.

And _they_ had chosen to stabilise the timeline completely. The determined kid had given their word, and somehow, even the cynical Sans had understood.

There was no point in fixing the machine, now.

... Maybe there hadn’t been in the first place.

Maybe Sans had just wanted to prove to himself that he could actually _do_ it.

He glanced up at the machine.

But…

…maybe it was finally time he left everything behind. A new starting point, and all that jazz. The Underground had been home, but… he was glad to be leaving.

He was glad to be starting again.

As an afterthought, Sans drew a hand out of one of his pockets, and found himself staring at it for a long time. He clenched and unclenched it.

It was normal.

It was _his_.

He felt his smile drop, and he shoved his hand back into his pocket.

Sans gave the blueprints one last look, focusing hard upon the strange symbols.

Then, he turned and walked back to the door.

Maybe, for once…

…he could actually be in charge of his own fate.

 

 

* * *

 

 

There wasn’t much use for the CORE, anymore.

There was a small debate on whether it would be wise to shut it down, in the event that monsters may have to return to the Underground for whatever reason. But after a large, burly, ice-throwing wolf stemmed the tide of the discussion, it was eventually decided that, unsupervised, leaving the CORE activated was probably a bad idea.

And nobody liked the idea of ice-throwing duty.

Dr Alphys, as her final act as (recently sacked) Royal Scientist, wandered through the halls of the CORE in search of the control room. She’d volunteered to deactivate the contraption herself, and though she hadn’t had the best track record, she knew more about the CORE’s functions than anyone else in the Underground. It was only reasonable that she would take the job.

Though it would be easy to simply shut everything off and assume that was the end of that, the CORE was a fairly unpredictable contraption. A lot of measures needed to be taken before it was switched off for good, lest there be a meltdown, or even an explosion.

Alphys drew in a deep breath, arriving before an automated steel door, a keypad nearby. She quickly entered the top-secret code of ‘K1551QT” and stepped through.

She wrung her hands at the sight of the inner workings of the CORE. She was in the observatory station, protected by thick, magic-infused glass, overlooking… well, simply put, the core of the CORE.

It was a large ball of energy, flaring with every possible colour. It was sustained by several fusion emitters in the room, a channel of water in a ring around it filled with rapidly-melting ice blocks, purposed to cool down the machinery. Straight below the core, thermals rose from the hot magma of the earth, becoming absorbed and then spat back out again at the top, converted into magical electricity.

It was a complex operation.

Alphys glanced down at the control panel, situated just below the window.

Everything needed to remain in their parameters. It was vital that everything remained stable. She got to work.

After a few hours and a whole lot of flinching when some factors dipped briefly in the red zone, a sweating Alphys radioed ahead, notifying her superiors that the fusion emitters of the CORE had shut down, and the energy core that had provided them with power for so long would soon dwindle down to nothing.

She was dismissed from duty, and though Alphys wanted nothing more than to join the crowds of monsters leaving the Underground or go back to her lab and watch anime using her backup generator, she couldn’t bring herself to leave.

She wanted to keep an eye on it. Just to be sure. Just because the machines were off didn’t mean that things were completely in the clear. Past experience had taught her to be cautious, and this was one thing she certainly didn’t want to screw up. She switched power to the backup generator, so that the instruments of the centre remained accurate - and the control panel still remained functional.

Alphys settled down in the control panel chair and waited, her eyes drifting over the instruments for anything strange.

The energy ball shrank down, slowly and steadily. There was little left to sustain it. Nobody had a use for it.

Nobody in this realm, anyway.

As the ball shrank, its composition changed. Chemicals converted, energies mashed together, its properties shifted - it dwindled into something that could no longer power the civilization.

But it shifted into something… ideal for something else.

For a split second, it flickered through to another plane. Strange energies had been involved in making this contraption work, and it was now reaching out into the place between spaces from which it was obtained.

The moment was quick. But the opportunity was not missed.

Something reached _back_.

Alphys was startled when a small alarm went off. She checked over the instruments again, but nothing was in the red zone.

“Uh… weird.” She suddenly felt a pang of alarm. Were her instruments malfunctioning? She was sure that the backup generator had enough power for a few more hours, yet!

She scanned the control panel feverishly. Had she made another mistake? She couldn’t have! She’d tried so hard this time! They’d been counting on her!

Alphys stopped herself, and took in a deep breath. “Okay… okay.”

No time for panicking. Just needed to focus. She stared hard at the core, outside the window. It was quite small now, a fraction of its original size, the colours now limited to varying shades of dark blue and purple.

She squinted in confusion behind her spectacles.

… it had stopped shrinking. There was nothing left to power it or keep it stable, and yet…

Alphys withdrew from the controls, a claw over her mouth.

“… but how could that work?” She whispered to herself.

The core was _stable_. It was self-sustaining. It was small, powerless, but it didn’t need fusion emitters. It didn’t need to be cooled. And thanks to the apparent lack of foresight courtesy of the CORE’s creator, she didn’t even have the means to completely extinguish it. It just _existed_ , a strange little dark star just… floating there.

Alphys’ heart grew heavy. She didn’t understand how this could be happening. It didn’t _seem_ like it was dangerous - the instruments weren’t picking up anything bad. She adjusted her glasses, beads of sweat forming on her head.

But she needed to be _sure_ that it wasn’t another disaster waiting to happen.

She sat back down at the controls, typing in a sequence. She was going to record the readings for as long as she could.

The dark star remained there, unchanged. But from within, a silent presence breathed a sigh of contentment.

_He was anchored here. At last._

_He was weak. But he was_ **_here_ ** _._

_A smile, seemingly the first one he’d had in years, cut strangely across his face._

_No time for celebrations. There was much to do. Much to see._

_… and much to reclaim._


	2. A Thief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go.

 

When Frisk entered the house, they skilfully dodged a cabinet being thrown outside. It landed with a crash.

“Oh! Hey, Frisk!” Undyne straightened from her throwing position, grinning widely. “Come to help me trash the place?”

Frisk smiled back, though a little hesitantly. “I thought you were helping with the larger things.”

“Well, yeah.” She placed a hand on her hip and looked around. “I’m speeding up the process a tad, since these guys are miles behind everyone else.” She glanced back down at Frisk. “But hey - not like they’re gonna be comin’ back anytime soon! May as well go out with a bang!”

“I’D APPRECIATE IT IF YOU DIDN’T THROW OUR FLATSCREEN TV!!” Papyrus yelled from upstairs. 

“Naah, Pap. I’ll just lightly toss it.” Undyne made a disc-throwing motion with her hand. “Like a frisbee! Hey, wonder how far it’d go?”

Papyrus brightened. “I’M CURIOUS, TOO! DO THAT ONE LAST, PLEASE!”

Frisk giggled. “Are you done packing your things, Undyne?”

“Well, not like I got a lot on me, I guess.” She shrugged. “We burned my house down, remember?”

Frisk deflated a little. Right.

“Ah, c’mon, Frisk! Nothing that can’t be replaced!” The human was startled to feel themselves lifted in the air, face-to-face with Undyne’s sharp-toothed grin. “Maybe we can have one last cooking lesson here before we leave! For old time’s sake!”

She looked up to the second level of the house. “Papyrus! You’re not sitting out of this one!”

“I WOULDN’T MISS IT!” The skeleton called back down, excitedly. “BUT I NEED TO PACK UP MY ROOM!”

“Right, right.” Undyne set Frisk down. “I gotta call Alphys, anyhow. Check up on how she’s doing with the CORE and all. Signals should be working now that the power’s out.”

Frisk and Papyrus shared a look.

They grinned.

“ARE YOU GONNA TELL HER THAT YOU THINK SHE’S CUTE?” Papyrus asked, clasping his hands together.

Undyne gritted her teeth. “Oh my God.”

“Are you gonna be all mushy?” Frisk asked, hands over their mouth.

“ARE YOU GONNA TALK TO HER IN A SEXY VOICE?” Papyrus fluttered his eyelashes (somehow).

“Are you gonna smooch her over the phone?” Frisk gasped.

“ _I’m_ gonna toss your BUTT upstairs if you don’t cut it out!” Undyne snarled at the human, who darted up the staircase, squealing with laughter. “And no more frisbee TV, either!”  
  
“AWW!”

Once she heard Papyrus’ Room door slam, Undyne picked up Papyrus’ cellphone off the side table with a huff. Punks. They needed to mind their own business.

She dialled in Alphys’ number, and held it to her ear.

She wasn’t expecting the ring tone to be replaced by static. 

Undyne made a face, looking into the receiver. Was it busted? Out of battery? She was sure that she and Papyrus had at least kept it functional through its multiple uses during Frisk’s journey. And it wasn’t like the cell phone signals wouldn’t stop working after the Underground lost power.

An electronic whine sounded from the speaker. Curious, she held the phone up to her ear, once again.

 

“t̩͓̠̱̘̝̐̉̃͆͐͢ ̶̖̫̞͗ͫ͐͊̀ͪh̢̹̝͙̭̟͎͉̑ͥ ̨̛̦͇̦͎͆ͨ̎̊̌ͦi̶̯̞̳̭̜̤̭̙ͦͬ̐͜ ̶͇̺͆ͤ̎ͨ̉̇̚ę͙͍̣̽̏̑ͩ͊ ̶̯̬͌̄͘f͍͉̫̱̦̻ͥ͛ͣ̕”

 

“The hell?!” She withdrew from the receiver, abruptly hanging up. She’d heard a voice, but it definitely hadn’t been Alphys.

Undyne stared hard at the phone, face scrunched up in both confusion and frustration.

She dialled again.

 

 

* * *

 

 

It started with his nerves. 

Sans took in a deep breath. His hand was still on the doorknob of the basement, having just closed it behind him. He was beside the house.

He was feeling a bit... jittery. He didn’t usually feel like that. Not a lot could really faze him, anymore.

He took in another deep breath, and the feeling went away. He gave a small chuckle.

Maybe it was all _this_. The “moving above ground” thing. He’d spent a long time looping around the timeline, it was strange to think about time actually progressing as normal. It wasn’t like he remembered the acute details without a prompt or two - he was just incredibly observant. Having an awareness of time and space helped, too.

However, it was incredibly tiring to learn that this had probably been his seventeenth Friday the 13th.

But hey, the setting was familiar, at least.

A knot formed in his gut, and placed a hand on his chest, grin still present. A bead of sweat appeared on his skull.

“heheh…”

Come to think of it, this sensation also felt familiar. It felt unreasonable... irrational. He felt twitchy about something, but there was no danger to link it to. He shook his head. Well, that’s what he got for hanging out in the basement without having much else to focus on. 

It just brought up bad memories.

Sans kept walking, shoving his hands in his pockets. Maybe he’d just head on over to Grillby’s - see if he was still working, or even if he needed any help. It could even be time to pay off that tab -

 

 

T̽̽̐̾̔҉̮̯̠̲̘H̞ͬ̔͐͌ͪͥ̀̕E̳̼̬̠͙̐ͫͅR̶̵͓̥̖̙̼̹̤͖͊ͬ͊̅ͫ̓͛͂E̲̱̜͍̦̘͊͐̓͆ ̨ͩͪ̎͛̾̓ͤ̑̆͏̷̮̬͙̹̠̳̭̜Ỷ̞͙̳ͦͤ͝ͅO̵̢̝̲͊̅͆̅̽̃̓̾͠Ů̺͗͗ͥ̆͑͑͝ ̫̝̼̼͉̈ͭ͂̀͘͜A̶̛͈̱̞ͥ̔̀̾ͩ̎͋ͦR̵̙̰̊͐ͩ̈́̓̆̀͟È̸̠̘̦̙̳̳̻̓̿̈́̓ͤ̇̓̓͜

 

 

His mind suddenly went blank.

For a brief moment, he forgot where he was going. All his thoughts vanished. His mind was a clean slate.

Sans abruptly shook his head, and his thoughts abruptly returned in full. He raised a hand up to his head, noticing it was throbbing a little.

“the hell…?”

He looked around, his breathing growing a little unsteady. Was he just thinking too hard? Had he heard something?

Silence met him. Snowdin was more or less emptied. 

Sans sighed. Thinking too hard. Maybe he’d just keep walking, and -

 

 

D̵͇̩̆̆̔̾ͩ͂̋̔̕͜O̯͈͉̼̪̱̲̹ͤ̽̔̿̾̾̈́́͜͠ͅ ̶̗̞̜̫͔̩̈͞͝N̗̐̽O̦̬̹̲̓ͥ͛ͯ̾ͫ̔̎̒͠͡T͈̗̞͍ͮ͌̀̂͋̓ͯ̏̉͟ ̷̨̹̘̘͉̫ͥ̃̈́̑I̗̣̞̤̲̘̪͑̎͜͞G͍ͮ̏̐͘̕N̴̳̣̗̲̈ͮ͐̅͌͂͂̔O̴̙̼͇̟̬̥̠̮͆͌̀ͦ̽ͪ͜R̺̰͖͕̯͕̥̀͑̊͗̅̐̽̚͡Ẽ͚̳͖̝̇͑ͤ̕ ͨ̀ͤ̈ͦM̶̴̳̠̖͈̙̥̪ͧ̐̾͞E̠̱͎̹̟͂̚.̬̝͑̌̆̾̽̾̑͂͝

 

 

He was prepared, this time. His right eye turned a bright blue, and he leapt to the side - through the fabric of space.

He reappeared on the roof of the house.

Sans glanced around, closely observing all the rifts in space that he could see in Snowdin. Shortcuts, more or less. That’s what he called them. It was how he got around so fast. They’d always been around, but only he could see them. 

And only he could _use_ them.

Another bead of sweat appeared on his skull. He took in a deep breath.

“couldn’t be.”

He’d heard the voice filtering through one of the holes. That was the first major alarm. 

The second one was that he recognised exactly who said voice belonged to. And… well, that wasn’t possible. That couldn't be possible.

He gripped the fabric in front of his chest.

“geeze.”

C’mon. What was wrong with him? He’d faced worse than this, and back then he hadn’t felt so… shaky. 

He kept a watchful eye out, staring hard at the entrances and exits of spacetime, almost as if to guard them.

Sans felt his breathing speed up, and he shut his eyes.

… It was getting hard to think.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Where do I put all these?”

Papyrus spun on the spot to see Frisk holding a large amount of his action figure collection. They nearly obscured Frisk’s view.

“OH! JUST OVER HERE!” He pointed to a large object, sitting just in front of the bookcase.

Frisk peered closely at it. “… Your sentry station?”

“IT DOUBLES AS A BOX!” Papyrus said, as Frisk hurried over to place the action figures inside. “I’VE ALREADY PACKED ALL MY BOOKS IN THERE. WE’LL TAPE UP THE WINDOW AS WE FILL IT UP!”

As soon as the last well-toned robot figure was carefully placed inside the box, the human looked around. There didn’t seem to be many more knick-knacks, but Papyrus was still scouring the room. He reached behind his old computer desk, face scrunched in concentration, before beaming and removing a few bones that had been tangled in the wiring.

“THERE WE ARE!”

Frisk watched as Papyrus threw the bones into the box in the corner of his room.

“AND I THINK THAT’S ALL MY ATTACKS! I WAS WONDERING IF ANY OF THEM WERE MISSING!” He said, dusting off his hands. “YOU NEVER KNOW IF THEY’VE FALLEN BEHIND THE COUCH OR UNDER YOUR BED - OR STORED IN A MULTIDIMENSIONAL BOX AND FORGOTTEN.” The skeleton crossed his arms.

The human blinked. “… did you check your pockets?”

Papyrus thought a moment. Then, a glowing blue bone suddenly materialised in his hands.

“OH! MY BLUE ATTACK!” He studied it, gleefully. “I ALWAYS CARRY IT AROUND. NO NEED TO PACK IT!” 

Frisk blinked, suddenly thinking back to Sans lifting them up in the air earlier that day. Sans hadn’t needed a bone for that. Just his eye, and the motion made with his hand…

“Papyrus? I was wondering… do you need that bone to turn souls BLUE?”

Papyrus turned to face Frisk in confusion. “NO, OF COURSE NOT! IT’S JUST A LITTLE EASIER THIS WAY.” He perked up. “WE’RE ALMOST FINISHED PACKING. I CAN DEMONSTRATE, IF YOU LIKE!”

Frisk nodded. They’d been carried around with the BLUE effect a couple of times already today. What was a few more? 

The PING sounded in their ears, and they felt themselves being lifted up again. They were met with the unfamiliar sight of both of Papyrus’ eye sockets alight with small, blue pinpricks.

“SOULS THAT TURN BLUE ARE A LOT MORE PRONE TO GRAVITY! I HAVE THE AMAZING ABILITY TO SHIFT THE DIRECTION HOWEVER I LIKE!”

Papyrus gently set Frisk down on the ground. The blue faded from his eyes, and Frisk felt the effect wear off.

 “ALRIGHT! NOW, STAND STILL FOR A MOMENT.” Papyrus said, holding the blue bone in a swordlike stance.

Frisk was a little nervous at the prospect, but they obliged. Papyrus was never one to harm when he didn’t want to. The skeleton swung the bone straight through them, and the telltale “PING” sounded. 

The human suddenly found it a lot harder to stand up straight. They lowered to a sitting position. 

Papyrus sat down with them, and Frisk noted that his eyes were perfectly normal, now. “AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I USE THE ‘BLUE ATTACK!’ JUST STRAIGHT DOWN! I COULDN’T CHANGE THE DIRECTION IF I TRIED. IT’S A LOT SAFER FOR WHOMEVER I’M FIGHTING. AND A LOT LESS CONFUSING.”

He tapped Frisk’s chest with the glowing bone, and the BLUE effect disappeared.

“SO, I USE THIS TO JUST KEEP THE SOUL ‘DOWN.’ IT LIMITS MY POWERS.” Papyrus explained, holding out the bone. “OTHERWISE, IN THE INCREDIBLY RARE, IMPOSSIBLE INSTANCE THAT I MAKE A MISTAKE - I COULD SEND YOU FLYING UP INTO THE SKY BY ACCIDENT! AND NOBODY WANTS THAT!”

The bone dissolved in his grasp, and he stood up, abruptly, placing a thumb on his chest with pride. “OF COURSE, I WOULD CATCH YOU IN TIME, FRISK!”

The human giggled. “I know you would, Papyrus.” They paused. “But… why did you decide to do that?”

“HMM?”

“Your powers, I mean.” Frisk added. “… you don’t have to limit them. I mean… I know you don’t like hurting people, so I guess _that’s_ why…” They nodded to themselves.

Papyrus looked down at Frisk. “WELL, THERE’S THAT! BUT I STARTED DOING IT BECAUSE OF SANS, ACTUALLY.”

The human raised their eyebrows, and they stood up. “Sans?”

“YEAH. HE’S PRETTY WEAK WHEN IT COMES TO GETTING HIT.” Papyrus scratched the back of his skull. “IT’S NOT LIKE HE’S IN DANGER MOST OF THE TIME, SO I DON’T NEED TO WORRY SO MUCH.”

Frisk swallowed. “Oh.”

“WHEN I FIRST STARTED TRAINING WITH ATTACKS AS A BABY BONES, I WASN’T VERY GOOD.” Papyrus twiddled his thumbs. “I HAD TO START SOMEWHERE! BUT BONES FLEW EVERYWHERE. SANS HAD TO KEEP AN EYE OUT, AND I DIDN’T WANT HIM TO STRESS.”

He straightened. “SO NATURALLY, I WORKED HARD TO MAKE SURE I HAD PROPER CONTROL OVER MY ATTACKS!” Papyrus said, smiling. “I WANTED TO MAKE SURE HE DIDN’T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT GETTING HIT BY MISTAKE, OR GET THROWN INTO A WALL.” He cringed.

The human glanced down, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable.

They’d known of Sans’ current state, from times they didn’t like to think about. 

One hit point. One hit (with the intent to harm), and he’d go down.

But on the other hand… did Papyrus know of his brother’s prowess? 

Frisk looked back up at the skeleton. “I’m sure he can look after himself, Papyrus.”

They were prepared to leave it at that - it sounded reassuring enough, and Papyrus didn’t need to know about… things like that.

To their surprise, the skeleton’s grin faltered a little in response.

“I KNOW.”

The human blinked. “You know?”

“I KNOW.” Papyrus placed his hands on his hips. “YOU KNOW, FOR ALL OF HIS LAZINESS, AND HOW WEAK HE IS, PHYSICALLY…”

The skeleton glanced around, then knelt to face Frisk, cupping a hand next to his mouth as if sharing a secret.

“… HE’S _INCREDIBLY_ POWERFUL. HE’S LIKE… SOME SORT OF GLASS CANNON.” 

He thought a moment. “HE EVEN _HAS_ SOME. PORTABLE ONES - HE JUST SUMMONS THEM. THEY’RE NOT MADE OF GLASS, THOUGH. BONE CANNONS, MORE LIKE IT? LIKE HUGE, WEIRD-LOOKING SKULLS…” 

Frisk stared back. They hadn’t really expected this response. Then again, it wasn’t as if they knew everything about the Skeleton brothers. Perhaps this was all common knowledge.

“So, can you do that, too?” They asked.

Papyrus frowned. “NOPE. I’VE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO. IN FACT, I…”

The skeleton suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. 

“ - WELL, I DON’T THINK I’M SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT THEM?”

Frisk blinked. “…What do you mean? He hasn’t told you?”

Papyrus crossed his arms, tapping his fingers thoughtfully.

“WELL… REMEMBER WHAT I SAID THAT TIME? SANS DOESN’T REALLY TELL ANYBODY ANYTHING.” He explained. 

… Oh.

“MOST OF THE STUFF I’VE LEARNED ABOUT SANS… WELL, THE STRANGER STUFF - IT’S USUALLY BY ACCIDENT. LIKE, BEING IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME. IT USUALLY HAPPENED WHEN I WAS VERY SMALL. BUT SOME DAYS... I SEE HIM DO THINGS THAT I CAN'T QUITE EXPLAIN.” He shrugged. "LIKE... BE AT OUR HOUSE ONE MOMENT AND THEN AT HIS JOB THE NEXT!"

Papyrus frowned. "OR... THE CANNONS. I SAW HIM PRACTICING WITH THEM OUT IN THE WOODS A LOT WHEN I WAS YOUNGER. BUT I DON'T BELIEVE HE REALLY DOES THAT, ANYMORE. HE HASN'T EXPLAINED THAT ONE TO ME. IT MUST BE SOME STRANGE TRICK THAT HE PICKED UP, BECAUSE _I_ CERTAINLY CAN'T SUMMON THINGS LIKE THAT!!!" Frisk couldn't help but sigh a little in relief at that statement.

Papyrus thought a moment. “... HAVE _YOU_ ALSO NOTICED HOW MY BROTHER KIND OF… IGNORES THE NORMAL RULES OF TIME AND SPACE?”

The human was aware - and they didn’t need their knowledge of a less favourable timeline to know. “Yeah. Does he… does he do that a lot?”

“OH, PLENTY OF TIMES.” He stood up straight, starting to count through his fingers. “I KNOW HE TELEPORTS. (He made a face at that. “LAZYBONES… HE COULD JUST _WALK_ TO WHERE HE WANTS TO GO.”) AND I KNOW HE SOMEHOW MESSES WITH SPACETIME IN HIS SPARE TIME.” He frowned. “THERE'S BEEN SOME STRANGE THINGS HAPPENING IN HIS ROOM, THAT'S FOR SURE. I WOULD INVESTIGATE, BUT SANS' ROOM IS ONE OF THOSE PLACES THAT NO MONSTER WAS MEANT TO TREAD.”

Papyrus paused, letting his hand fall to his side. “...BUT HE DOESN’T KNOW THAT I KNOW THESE THINGS. OR, WELL, I DON’T THINK THAT HE KNOWS THAT I KNOW, YOU KNOW?”

Frisk suddenly felt a little sad. 

“So… he didn’t tell you any of that?”

“NOPE!” The skeleton crossed his arms, beaming. “I’M SURE HE HAS HIS REASONS, THOUGH!”

There was a small silence.

“… EVEN THOUGH HE’S STRONG, HE’S ALWAYS TIRED. AND LAZY.” He glanced down. “I USED TO THINK IT WAS _BECAUSE_ HE WAS SO TOUGH… BUT NOW I’M NOT SURE.”

He perked back up again. “SO, EVEN IF HE WON’T TELL ME WHAT’S WRONG, I JUST MAKE SURE HE DOESN’T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT LITTLE THINGS LIKE STRAY BONES HITTING HIM, OR THAT HE ISN’T FLUNG INTO A WALL WHILE I’M PRACTICING! I ALSO MAKE SURE THAT HE’S GOING TO WORK - AND I MAKE DELICIOUS FOOD!” Papyrus grinned. “SO I’M SURE THAT HELPS!”

Frisk stared up at Papyrus, processing all the information a little. It was strange that despite their bickering, and how close they were, Sans still was a quite a mystery to the very family he thought so highly of.

They smiled up at the skeleton.

“…I think Sans was right.”

Papyrus blinked. “WHAT ABOUT?”

“About you being the coolest brother ever.”

There was a small pause. Then, wordlessly, the skeleton knelt down to face them once again. He opened up his arms, and Frisk stepped forward, hugging him tightly. He reciprocated, gently.

“THANK YOU, FRISK.” He said, a little quieter than usual. “THAT WAS A LOT TO TALK ABOUT, UP OUT OF NOWHERE. AND YOU LISTENED VERY WELL!” He withdrew from Frisk, smiling. “A WONDERFUL FRIEND WORTHY OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS.”

Frisk giggled. 

“NOW, LET US FINISH UP HERE!” Papyrus stood up, glancing about. As an afterthought, he marched back to his box of bone attacks and gestured with both hands. They all floated up into the air and disappeared as they were all tucked away into his inventory. “I’LL BET UNDYNE’S NEARLY FINISHED WITH THE DOWNSTAIRS!”

_“NGAAAAHH!!!”_

Almost as if on cue, there was a yell from the royal captain. Only now, it was accompanied by the sound of something crunching _inside_ the house.

Papyrus and Frisk exchanged a look, then rushed out of the bedroom door.

They looked down at the living room to see a seething Undyne hunched over, her visible eye twitching. On the floor were the shattered remains of a small gadget.

“MY CELLPHONE!” Papyrus cried, hands atop his head. Undyne froze.

“… I’ll get you a new one.”

Frisk hurried down the stairs, followed by Papyrus. “W-what happened? You and Alphys didn’t fight, did you?”

“No _way_.” Undyne stood up straight. “Couldn’t even get into contact with her! Kept calling her number over and over. Nothing but static. And some weird… voice thing?” She rubbed at her neck, grimacing. “I mean, phone signals around the CORE don’t usually work, but with the power off…”

Her hand fell to her side, her expression thoughtful. “Couldn’t have been the CORE, though. Tried calling other lines, too, but - same thing.”

Papyrus scratched his skull. “MAYBE WE SHOULDN’T HAVE THROWN A PLATE OF SPAGHETTI ON THE RECEIVER.”

Undyne stretched her neck to the side, massaging her shoulder. “Means we gotta find another phone, period.” 

Her eye suddenly blazed, and her teeth gritted in irritation. “Just where the hell are we supposed to find another phone with most of the Underground upstairs enjoying the sunshine!? I gotta check on Alphys!”

A cell phone suddenly appeared next to her arm, held up by a proud Frisk.

“Mom didn’t let me come here without it.” They started dialling in Alphys’ number, Undyne kneeling to their level, listening intently. “And it was upgraded by Alphys not that long ago. It should work…” 

As they focused on the phone, Papyrus suddenly glimpsed a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head, looking out what remained of the front door to spot Sans a good distance away from the house, slowly walking through the snow.

Pacing back and forth.

He frowned. That certainly didn’t _look_ like packing.

“I’LL BE RIGHT BACK, GUYS!” Papyrus jumped to his feet and hurried out of the house.

In the meantime, a very unimpressed Undyne listened to the static on the other end of the receiver. She grudgingly handed the cell phone back to Frisk, who listened to the strange sounds in confusion.

“It… it was working earlier, today.”

“You sure it’s not broken, too?” Asked Undyne.

Frisk pressed the ‘End Call’ button and protectively held the phone away from the guard captain.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

...It wasn’t possible.

Sans rubbed at his skull, his eye sockets dim.

He really wanted to dismiss the whole thing. He really had things to do. Places to go.

He wanted to get out of here. Move _on_.

But it all felt too real. Too familiar. It wasn’t just him dwelling on memories. The way the panic had risen in him, he’d wondered if he would been able to tell the difference, but… no. 

He was sure the voice had been real.

And Sans was sure that just made everything ten times worse.

“SAAANS!”

The smaller skeleton blinked. Game face. The light in his eyes returned, and he turned to face his approaching brother.

“hey bro. done packing, already?”

 “ALMOST!!” Papyrus came to a stop, his foot stomping decisively on the snow. “BUT YOU STILL HAVEN’T STARTED!!”

Sans shrugged. “i told ya, i’m packin’ light.”

Papyrus crossed his arms. “DID YOU JUST DECIDE THAT SO YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING?”

 “no. i decided that so i could do this.” Sans reached into the inside of his jacket pocket, retreating a small, Snowdin-decoration lightbulb. 

Papyrus stared at it for a brief moment, genuinely curious. Then, his face fell in comprehension.

“see? what’d i tell ya?” Sans grinned.

“ _SANS,_ THAT WAS ALMOST UNBELIEVABLY TERRIBLE.” Papyrus pinched the nonexistent ridge of his nonexistent nose. He let his hand fall to his side, suddenly attentive. “BUT ARE YOU SURE YOU’RE NOT GOING TO TAKE ANYTHING? I’M SURE THERE’S STILL ROOM ON THE SLED FOR YOUR THINGS! THE DINING ROOM TABLE DIDN’T SURVIVE.”

Sans shook his head. “nah. i’m leaving everything as is.” He grinned up at Papyrus. “got nothin’ but a bunch of junk, anyway.”

 

 

T͈̺͉̬͉̣̺ͬ̆̄ͩ̓̍ͧ͝H̖͖̙̼̹̜̰̘ͪ͗ͧͧ́I̸̜͕̦̗̼͔͋ͥE̓ͩ͋̂̉̈́ͬ͜͢F̡̖̪͇̗̦͚̻̓ͪ.̰̝̯͇̻ͮ͘

 

 

Sans froze. He glanced up at Papyrus, who blinked in confusion. 

The smaller skeleton’s eye was flashing between a bright, electric blue and a pale yellow.

Papyrus hadn’t seen _that_ in a while.

“SANS…?”

His brother’s expression remained neutral, as usual. The voice that came from him, however, was not.

“… did you hear that?”

Papyrus tilted his head. “WHAT?”

Sans glanced downwards. His eye sockets had gone dim, and concern spiked in Papyrus. 

“i… you know what, never mind.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “maybe i’m not sleeping enough.” 

_It was impossible. There was no way._

The light in his eyes returned. “weird, huh?” He glanced up at Papyrus. “usually, sleeping comes so naturally to me i could do it with my eyes closed.”

Papyrus’ concerned expression made way for a scowl. Satisfied, Sans turned away. “well, guess i should check up on the house. did undyne finish up in there yet, or - ”

 

T̙̦ͨH͙̘͌ͧ͂̉̔ͅͅǏ̠͑E̠̜̙̙̖͈̍̍͗̌F̖̙̻̩̥́͂̓̑̂̄

 

The voice filled up his mind, clearing everything away.

He lost balance, stumbled forward, and collapsed in the snow. 

“SANS?!” 

His head was spinning, as he tried to prop himself up on his elbows. He felt himself being lifted to his feet by his brother, but didn’t feel steady enough to stand.

_“heh…”_

His entire body felt limp. He struggled to make it move again, managing to plant his feet properly in the snow.

 _His. It was_ **_his._**

“SANS, WHAT’S WRONG?” Papyrus was hovering, slowly releasing his arms. “ARE YOU SICK?”

Sans kept his head down, focusing on keeping his balance. “it’s nothing, bro. sure don’t _feel_ sick.”

He wanted to calm down. It wasn’t like he had never felt like freaking out under certain circumstances before, but it had been a very long time since he’d felt like his fear was bubbling so close to the surface.

He tried not to shake.

“YOU REALLY DON’T LOOK SO GOOD.” Papyrus said, thoughtfully. Sans privately wished he’d stop talking. He just needed to focus on investigating the voice. Clarify a few things. Make all this go away.

“look bro, it’s _fine_.” Sans finally looked up, staring hard at the taller skeleton. “i just gotta check on something real quick. and then i’ll get some z’s in - ”

The look Papyrus had on his face was not quite what Sans had expected. His eyes were wide, and his mouth was clamped shut. Confused, his expression softened. He hadn’t been _that_ firm, had he?

“whoa, pap - i’m sorry. didn’t mean to-“

“SANS?”

Hesitantly, Papyrus pointed up towards his own jaw.

“WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOUR TEETH…?”

Sans blinked in confusion. He reached up to his own mouth, running a finger through the cracks of his perpetually gritted teeth.

His eyes widened as he realised that he was tracing an unfamiliar shape.

Jagged. Zig-zagging - his teeth had become _sharp_.

 

_**THIEF.** _

 

Papyrus turned his head, startled.

“… DID _YOU_ HEAR _THAT_?” The taller skeleton asked, hesitantly. 

And then, the world seemed to warp around them.

There was a terrible electronic screech. Something that seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. 

It was deafening. Papyrus couldn’t even make out Undyne’s words as she thundered down the front steps out their house, Frisk running up from behind her. Small areas… holes in the space around the house seemed to be… warping. Glitching?

How odd. There were even tiny black particles floating in the air, stuttering erratically from one place to the next.

The taller skeleton turned to Sans, prepared to drag him to safety of the house, only to be met with the sight of his brother with his right eye glowing blue… brightly, as if on fire. His arm was outstretched, his hand twitching, as if in pain - though if Papyrus looked hard enough, he could see _claws_ beginning to form on his fingertips.

Sans stepped back from Papyrus, repeatedly brushing down his arm with his other hand, almost as if to try wiping away the changes. Beads of sweat formed on his skull, his grin strained.

**_DON’T IGNORE ME, SANS._ **

The voice reverberated around the area. The stray, black particles suddenly seemed to be collecting around a particular area nearby, giving form to a shapeless, black mass.

“Get behind me, punk!” Papyrus realised that Undyne had stopped up a good distance away, glimpsing the growing form. She shoved Frisk protectively to her side, summoning an energy spear. She looked around at the warps in the area, teeth gritted fiercely. Her gaze landed on the skeleton brothers, watching as Sans seemed to buckle to his knees.

“ _HEY! You guys okay?!_ ” She called over the din.

Papyrus quickly knelt to face his brother, who had hurriedly pulled his hood over his head. His breathing had gone funny.

“SANS, WHAT’S GOING ON?!”

He glanced around once more, hearing the screeching grow louder. 

“ACTUALLY, NEVERMIND.” He grabbed Sans’ arm, trying to pull him away from the growing black mass. “WE NEED TO GET _OUT_ OF HERE!”

Sans planted a foot on the ground, though the rest of his body seemed limp. 

 _“…papyrus.”_ He groaned, hoarsely.

Papyrus spun to face him. “SANS - THIS IS NO TIME TO BE LAZY! I _REALLY_ THINK WE’RE IN DANGER, RIGHT NOW! SO LET’S GET MOVING!!” He pulled on his brother’s arm, surprised at the physical strength Sans seemed to possess. 

**_YOU’LL DO NO SUCH THING._ **

Papyrus heard to sound of cracking and popping, and stopped pulling on Sans, initially fearing he’d pulled too hard. Instead, he watched as Sans planted his clawed hands down on the snow, and a ridge started to form on the back of his jacket. The crackling and popping was the sound of his bones shifting… and expanding. Warping. He was _changing_.

His breathing had gone haggard, his voice guttural.

“… _get out of here_.” Sans whispered.

“SANS…” Papyrus dropped down to face him. “… THAT’S ENOUGH! I KNOW YOU CAN MOVE! I KNOW YOU CAN HANDLE THIS!” He tugged on Sans’ shoulders, trying to get him to stand. “I’M CERTAINLY NOT LEAVING YOU HERE!! SO USE YOUR LEGS AND - ” 

Sans looked up at him again, a single blue eye glowing in the darkness of his hood and Papyrus’ eyes widened.

Something else had changed.

“Y-YOU’RE…”

He reached over to lift Sans’ hood, only for a strangled snarl to sound, and Papyrus found himself being shoved back by a hand far larger than he remembered. He landed hard on the ground.

Papyrus sat up in the snow, met with the sight of his brother clutching his head - developing a skull too misshapen and large for the hood to contain. His face had stretched outward into a small muzzle, and bumps could be seen beneath the fabric of his hood, threatening to tear it.

Sans shook his head, growling lowly, before staring at Papyrus - his normal eyes were present, though both were flickering a fiery blue.

“y-you have to leave, bro. it’s not _safe._ he’s -“

His eyes suddenly seemed to grow blank. His arms dropped to his sides, and he stared back at Papyrus, as if in a daze.

“… he’s…”

Papyrus was suddenly aware of the black mass shaping itself into a tall figure, towering behind Sans. A strange disembodied hand glitched into existence in midair. Then another. Two. Three. Four.

A face - Papyrus wasn’t quite sure if he could _call_ it a face, buzzed into view atop the towering black. A pale, white oval - a smile cracking across its surface like a scar. Its… (theirs? “ _His_?” ) hollow eyes, sliced up and down respectively, were fixed on Papyrus. 

Sans collapsed to his knees.

“… _he’s calling me.”_ He whispered.

“HEY! _YOU_!” 

Undyne had chosen this moment to hurl an energy spear cleanly across the way. It landed perfectly in the side of a tree.

The being turned its head, eyes fixed on the captain of the royal guard.

“That’s a warning shot.” She seethed. “You’re gonna stop whatever the hell you’re doing to Sans, you hear me?” Another spear had already materialised in her hand. “Otherwise, THIS one goes through _you_!”

The being did not respond. He merely tilted its head.

**_…IF YOU MUST. I AM CURIOUS TO SEE WHAT WILL HAPPEN, MYSELF._ **

Papyrus, in the meantime, was shaking his brother’s shoulders. Sans was barely responsive, as if trying to fight off sleep. The blue in his eyes was flickering wildly.

“BROTHER, PLEASE! SNAP OUT OF IT!” 

Sans lifted his head. His transformation seemed to have slowed. “… _can’t_ …”

Undyne raised her spear. 

“I _warned_ you.” She hissed. She hurled the spear into the being’s shoulder.

It went straight through, as if it had not touched a thing. It sailed onwards, hitting the same tree as before.

The being casually observed his shoulder, the black particles stuttering around the area. Then, they reformed back into his body, as if nothing had happened.

 ** _INTERESTING._** He noted, one of his hands dusting off his shoulder. **_BUT RATHER UNPLEASANT. I SHALL WRITE IT DOWN._**

Undyne’s face twisted into a snarl, as several energy spears formed all around her. “Guess that means you want some more?”

**_I’LL PASS._ **

His gaze fell onto Sans, who was steadily gaining focus.

**_I HAVE MUCH ELSE TO DO._ **

The skeleton, his body heavy, his mind exhausted, slowly turned to face the being. He looked dazed. But there was still a sharpness in his eyes. He was fighting to stay present.

To stay aware.

The being frowned. 

One of his floating hands slammed a palm on Sans’ forehead. His gaze suddenly grew vacant, again. Blank. The white pinpricks of light had turned into large, white rings.

 ** _JUMP._** He commanded.

And they vanished.

Papyrus leapt to his feet, eye sockets wide, hurriedly looking around.

Sans, the tall being, the strange glitches, the holes in space, the unbearably loud electronic screeching -

\- it had all _disappeared._ There was nothing but the silence of Snowdin and the blankness of snow to greet them.

Undyne, eye wide in shock, dismissed her spears, but she cautiously stepped forward, looking around with her guard up. Frisk, who had observed the entire thing from behind her, cupped their hands around their mouth.

“SANS!” They cried.

Papyrus stared into space, in rare shock and silence. 

His brother had just… disappeared. He was gone. 

Sans was _gone_.

…Taking in a shaky breath, he followed Frisk’s lead.

“SANS?! SANS, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!”

“How the hell did they…” Undyne glanced around, cupping a hand near her mouth. “SANS, IF THIS IS A REALLY MESSED UP PRANK, IT ISN’T FUNNY!”

Frisk called again, only to get their voice caught in their throat.

The trio already seemed to be realising that wherever Sans was, it was probably very far away from here. 

As Papyrus numbly wandered further from the house, he could hear the sound of a phone being dialled. Frisk was already calling Lady Asgore.

The skeleton looked over his shoulder, watching as Frisk held the phone up to their ear.

“Mom…”

A frown appeared on their face, and they withdrew the phone from the ear. Papyrus could hear the sound of static buzzing from the speaker.

The skeleton paused a moment. Then, urgency won out.

He spun on his heel and dashed down the main road of Snowdin, hearing Undyne yell out after him.

As he ran, he could faintly hear Frisk continue to speak into their phone.

 

_“… someone’s taken away Sans…”_


	3. A Roar

A crackle of energy sounded in the stillness of Waterfall.

A loud, electronic screech filled the caverns. The Echo Flowers picked up on the noise and repeated it themselves, the noise rippling outwards from flower to flower.

Finally, a flash of blue light illuminated the ambience of the caves, sparking off the crystals and nearby waterfalls, and Sans appeared on the ground, a shadowed figure hunched over him.

He abruptly pulled away from the figure’s hand, a snarl escaping him before he could hold it back. The figure didn’t flinch, nor did he seem to respond to Sans at all - he slowly turned to observe his surroundings. His face was calm, placid.

Sans only blinked, and the figure’s face was suddenly inches from his own, malformed some more and glitching.

**_THIS IS NOT WHERE I TOLD YOU TO JUMP._ **

Sans let out a bitter chuckle.

“…didn’t hear you specify the details, _doc_.”

His bones ached. He could still feel them trying to shift into something too unfamiliar for him to keep coordinated, but he clenched his teeth tightly, trying to stave it off for a little longer. His hood was still surviving, at least.

**_…YOU ARE STILL CONSCIOUS, I SEE._**

The face withdrew from Sans, who struggled to stand up straight. The taller being curled a hand underneath his chin in thought.

**_… THEN I AM NOT AS WELL-ANCHORED IN THIS REALM AS I SHOULD BE._ **

“‘anchored,’ huh? you shouldn’t be here at  _all_ , gaster.” Sans shook his head. The screeching din of the Echo Flowers around him was distracting. He needed to keep focus. “wanna fill me in on what happened, there? or you gonna keep me in the  _dark_?” He tugged on his hood.

Just keep talking… just keep thinking… couldn’t stay here long.

 ** _I TOLD YOU TO TAKE ME TO HOTLAND._** The doctor suddenly appeared to his right, making Sans flinch. **_I HAVE NO PATIENCE FOR UNNECESSARY DELAYS. NOT AFTER I’VE WAITED SO LONG._**

Gaster’s eyes narrowed at Sans.

**_EVEN LIKE THIS, I CAN BARELY ACCESS THESE... RIFTS, MYSELF. BUT YOU - YOU STILL SEEM TO LEAP THROUGH THEM AS IF THEY ARE NOTHING._ **

****He raised an eyebrow.

 **_Y_ ** **_OU WILL ASSIST ME IN TRAVEL._ **

“...just like old times, h-huh…?” Sans felt a lurch in his chest, and he felt himself clawing a little at his hands.

Heh, there was that shakiness again. It was stronger, this time. Sans tried to think over it, ignore it. That wasn’t him. It wasn’t a  _part_  of him.

He just had to hold out… ignore it.

A presence right in front of his eyes. One of Gaster’s hands had reached out to Sans’ skull, once more. He dodged, his hood flipping off his head with the force. His skull was becoming more bestial, unrecognisable as his own.  

He needed to get out of here.

Several huge, monstrous skulls suddenly materialised around him in the air. Gaster Blasters. Aptly named, by now. Sans ignored the fact that he was starting to resemble them.

Instead, he chose to focus keenly back at the dark figure, his sharp-toothed grin looking strained. He directed the weaponry, his connection with them resounding in his throbbing skull. His eyes dimmed completely.

“E v e r   i m a g i n e d   t h e s e   t u r n i n g   o n   y o u ,   d o c ?” He asked.

The doctor tilted his head.

**_I CANNOT SAY THAT I HAVE, SANS._ **

A flash.

Sans blinked, his eyes back to their normal brightness, suddenly feeling the absence of connection with his blasters.

He glanced around at them. Several pairs of glowing eyes fixed on him. His command had gone unheeded.

**_YOU MAY HAVE TO INFORM ME ON HOW IT FEELS._ **

The collective whines of several charging lasers sounded, and Sans’ eyes grew wide. He dodged out of the laser fire with practiced speed, the cave wall exploding behind him. The plaque embedded upon is was shambles.

He spun to see the monstrous skulls collecting around the dark being, in practiced formation. Gaster stared up at them with a nod, before lowering his gaze onto Sans.

**_THANK YOU FOR RETURNING MY ARSENAL. I AM GLAD TO KNOW THAT THEY HAVE BEEN PROPERLY MAINTAINED - EVEN BY A THIEF LIKE YOU._ **

Sans reminded himself to stay calm, as Gaster studied his own hands for a moment.

**_INTRIGUING. IT APPEARS I CAN BARELY BE AFFECTED_ PHYSICALLY _, LIKE THIS. AND YET…_**

The barest trace of a smile appeared upon his features.

**_… WELL. SEEING AS MY OLD WEAPONRY AND YOUR FORM ARE COMPLYING TO MY DEMANDS, I’M SURE YOU’VE CONCLUDED THE SAME THING._ **

A surge of energy ripped through Sans. His eye blazed blue, and he reached out to the being’s soul, casting a BLUE attack.

The ‘PING’ never came. The sound itself seemed to stutter as if caught in the air, and Gaster looked on at Sans, a little surprised and amused as his tall, dark form seemed to glitch and stutter for a brief moment, before reforming into its usual state.

**_ARE YOU QUITE FINISHED?_ **

Sans’ breathing started to grow shaky.

He had to leave. He had to leave right  _now_.

His gaze fell on a shortcut, another hole in space and he charged at it.

Didn’t have to be Snowdin. Didn’t have to be near the surface. Just…  _away_. Away from here.

He heard the whine of a charging laser and leapt back from his escape, dodging the blast. He spun to face the being, watching him calmly.

**_… I AM A PATIENT MAN, SANS. BUT EVEN I HAVE MY LIMITS._ **

Crack. Cracking. Popping. The strain on his bones increased. Sans’ breathing became laboured. He stumbled back, hunched over, aware that his mind was starting to deteriorate into a mess.

He was cornered.

Needed… needed to  _escape_. No… needed to fight  _back_.

… which was it?

Sans stared down at his hands, rapidly changing into animalistic claws.

What could he  _do_ …?

**_I HAVE NO USE FOR A TOOL THAT WON’T DO AS IT’S TOLD._ **

He struggled to think. Something fearful was screaming from all corners of his mind. Something that didn’t belong, something that he didn’t want anything to do with.

He…  _his._ His soul was his own. His body was his  _own_.

It wasn’t meant to  _be_  like this.

“G _a s t E r…_ ” Sans garbled. Fear spiked in him, again. His voice wasn’t recognisable, either.

The man stared down at him, expressionless.

And Sans, exhausted, stared back.

A surge of energy encompassed him, and he lost his focus. The floodgates had been opened - everything shifted rapidly, now. He felt his jacket disintegrate as spinal spikes shot up through his vertebrae. His face had now completely stretched out into a fully developed muzzle. He felt larger. Heavier. His bones creaked and strained as they shifted to a quadrupedal state.

His balance left him as his feet recalibrated their centre of gravity, and he fell forward on his new front legs, head bowed low as if it had become too heavy to lift. His skull spikes stretched back further, and a tail whipped out from behind him, twitching under the strain of the change.

It was over. His transformation had completed.

Sans let out a roar of anger, his eyes rapidly flickering between and all-encompassing blue and their natural white pupils. His voice was gone. He was trapped.

He wasn’t safe.

Needed to leave.  _Escape_.

… Escape to where?

He had to find a place. Anywhere but here. Anywhere…

…Flowers whispering… it was too loud. Echoes… screeching… Too much.

He saw the dark figure slowly approach him, dismissing the huge, monstrous skulls. A part of Sans remembered himself, and gave a screech in his direction. The Echo Flowers nearby repeated his cry.

 _Dangerous_.  _His_  fault.  _He_  did this -

**_NO MORE OF THAT._ **

A hand landed on the centre of Sans’ forehead. The creature froze, his pupils suddenly becoming large white rings, once more. They flickered blue as he struggled for control once more - he couldn’t think rationally - and he was starting to forget what had started this conflict in the first place. But he could still fight -

**_… WHY DON’T YOU REST, SANS?_ **

_… Rest…?_

Resting…

… sounded pretty good. Though, a mere second later he pulled himself away from the notion.

_Couldn’t… rest. No sleeping. Still in danger -_

**_LET THE WORLD PASS YOU BY FOR A WHILE…_ **

Sans strained against the main’s voice, again. He was tired. Dizzy. His limbs were even feeling…heavy. The voice filled his mind, drowning out his panic. Drowning out everything.

**_… IS THAT NOT WHAT YOU ARE BEST AT?_ **

Sans was too tired to resist it. It offered  _peace_  from the sounds, the fear, the anger…

…and himself.

The blue left his eyes.

He wasn’t aware of his limbs and body slowly becoming encompassed in a white glow. It travelled through his bones, causing them to deteriorate away into glitching particles. His legs, tail, torso all vanished into nothingness.

Sans’ body was gone. All that remained was a Gaster Blaster Skull, staring blankly back at its master.

Gaster withdrew his hand. Sans was no longer present.

**_NOW, LET’S TRY THIS AGAIN._ **

He placed another hand on one of the skull’s horns.

**_TAKE US TO HOTLAND._ **

Without hesitation, the skull obliged.

They vanished from Waterfall.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“ _PAPYRUS! HEEL!”_

Undyne sprinted through the snow after Papyrus, who had not stopped his momentum in the slightest. He was already making a beeline for the caves of Waterfall, deep in the fog at the end of town - and he didn’t make any indication that he had heard the Royal Captain.

Her teeth gritted in frustration. He was already set on searching for Sans, and they didn’t even know where he’d gone. She appreciated his enthusiasm (heck, she wanted to deal with this issue right away herself) - but there wasn’t any means of contacting the guy if they got separated.

She summoned a spear. Green energy crackled around it, and she leaned back, preparing to aim a GREEN attack directly at the skeleton...

“Undyne!”

Blinking, she heard a distant voice from behind her and skidded to a halt. She turned on the spot to see Frisk slowly catching up to her in a jog, quietly gasping.

“I can’t… run that fast.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” The captain said, flatly. Even with 500 pounds of armor, she’d pretty easily been able to constantly catch up with Frisk during her pursuit in Waterfall. The kid couldn’t run to save their life.

Snapping back to attention, she looked over towards the end of town. Papyrus had vanished deep into the fog.

She gave a sigh, the GREEN attack dissolving out of her grasp.

“… aaand he’s outta here.”

Frisk stared out at the fog. “Shouldn’t we go after him?”

“Well, yeah, but not by  _running_.” Undyne muttered. “He’s set on finding Sans. Once he’s set on something, there’s no stopping him.”

Her teeth gritted, then she yelled out at the fog.

“WE NEED A RENDEZVOUS POINT, PAP!” Her hands were twitching. “Freakin’ cell phones, had to conk out as soon as Alphys deactivated the CORE  _and now this crap with disappearing skeletons and mumble mumble - ”_

Suddenly aware of her rage, Frisk hurriedly placed their phone in their pocket and out of sight. “He hasn’t even got a phone on him.”

They looked up at the seething Undyne. “Is he gonna be okay?”

The captain’s eye stopped twitching as they looked down at Frisk, noting their concern. Then, she straightened, giving a grin. “You’re such a wuss! Don’t worry about it! Paps is  _tough_ , kiddo.” She made a fist with her hand for emphasis, then thought a moment.

“Look, he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, but that doesn’t mean he can’t look after himself.”

Frisk nodded, a little reassured. “Yeah…”

“With that said, we did just see a weird, glitchy man shrug off my energy spears, so we’re  _definitely_  catching up with him.” Undyne suddenly hoisted Frisk up by the back of their cape and started marching towards the centre of town.

“I took the Riverboat here when I was coming on over to help. They couldn’t ferry luggage - just made their boat start sinking.” She made a face. “So everyone’s just gotta walk with their stuff. The bright side is, that the boat should still be around!”

Undyne charged towards the centre of town, Frisk letting their limbs flap about loosely in the air. It wasn’t very comfortable, but Frisk was becoming increasingly used to this mode of transportation in recent days.

“We’ll cut him off from the other side!” Undyne roared. “ _Then_  we can get a plan going.”

When they reached the river, the boat was still indeed docked. The River Person turned to them, tilting their head curiously.

“Tra la la. On your way home, Undyne?”

“You bet! Make it quick!” The captain leapt onto the boat, making it rock fairly violently (Frisk noted that Undyne didn’t place them down on the boat until it had stopped rocking). “We’re in pursuit of a skeleton! A couple now, I guess.”

“Very well.” The River Person turned to face the canal. “Off we go.”

The boat drifted off at a fast pace, zipping past the buildings of Snowdin and towards the caverns of Waterfall. Frisk sat down for the trip, deep in thought.

Something was really bothering them.

“Who  _was_  that guy?” They said, quietly.

Undyne’s expression grew serious. “No clue.” She rubbed her shoulder. “Never seen anything like him, that’s for sure. Who the hell does he think he is, shrugging off my spears like that?”

“… do you think he’s okay?”

Undyne frowned. “What, the creepy guy? Pretty sure he’s - ”

“No, no, I meant Sans.” Frisk interjected. “I, uh… I mean… I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like that. He didn’t even fight  _back_.”

The captain blinked. “… yeah. Though… from what I’ve seen of the guy, I don’t know if it’s like him to fight back?” She crossed her arms. “I’ve only really seen him on the job as a sentry. It’s not like he does much other than sleep, eat, make concession stands and manage  _not_  to get fired. …We’re probably gonna have to hurry.”

Frisk refrained from correcting Undyne. Sans could fight back if he wanted to. As the ultimate resort, at least.

Only this time, it… seemed like he wasn’t capable of it. Sans, as mysterious as he was, always had an air of nonchalance about him. Confidence. As if he was one step ahead of everything. A kind of acceptance. Even from the times that Frisk didn’t like to think about, he hadn’t appeared fazed by their actions. He’d been hurt, sure. He’d been angry, in his own way, perpetually maintaining that grin.

They wrung their fingers.

It hadn’t been the same, this time.

His grin had been strained. Sweat had beaded on his skull. He’d even pulled over his hood, something Frisk had never seen him do.

… Had he really been scared? It was hard to tell with him.

They glanced up at Undyne, prepared to ask another question, when they noticed that the captain’s face was scrunched up in thought.

“…What was  _happening_  to him?”

Frisk blinked. “What do you mean?”

She glanced back down at them. “You know what I’m talking about - wait, you didn’t see it?” The woman turned to Frisk, eye wide. “Sans was… actually getting kinda taller?”

She shook her head. “I mean, not like we had the best view with all that black crap kinda stuttering around in the air like that, but… It’s weird. Just before he disappeared - he was almost as tall as Papyrus.”

Frisk thought a moment, recalling something from their journey. “… Don’t monsters change form, sometimes?”

Undyne shrugged. “Well, yeah! I mean, it’s not something that happens a lot - but the only way I know of is through soul absorption. Or, uh… too much determination.” She scratched her head. “Alphys could explain it better. We’re made up of more magic than physical matter.”

She frowned, suddenly reminded of the scientist. “… but yeah. Whatever magic was surrounding us then - that didn’t  _look_  like a soul. Or determination.”

Undyne glanced down at the woodwork of the boat. She'd seen a lot of stuff during her time as Royal Captain - especially around the time the strange human first came down to the Underground. But she had never quite experienced  _anything_  like the magic that had appeared when Sans had been taken. The energies that had surrounded him had been strange and alien, reaching out from places that she hadn’t known existed.

Was  _that_  what had made Sans look so odd?

… Or had it been something else?

Either way, it made Undyne a little uneasy.

She spotted a movement out of the corner of her eye. Frisk was sitting up straight, their expression scrunching into one of focus.

“… Sans.” They said, firmly. “Hang on, okay?”

Undyne glanced down at them, briefly, picking up on their concern.

She looked back up ahead, staring forward with determination as the boat entered into the darkness of the Waterfall caverns.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Deep in the caves, a small bird beat its wings furiously and diligently through the air. It took pride in its task, slowly making its way from one riverbank to the next, as its passenger had requested of. It wouldn’t say no to anybody for this feat, no matter how large or heavy they were.

Because of his height, however, said passenger was half-submerged in the water as he was pulled along.

“THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP, MY AVIAN FRIEND!” Papyrus said, once they had reached the other side. His boots were soggy, but that was to be expected if he was sloshing around Waterfall, anyway. “I DON’T KNOW HOW TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP, SO I’LL SHARE SOME OF MY BIRD IMITATIONS!”

Papyrus did so. The bird did not understand what he said, but was flattered, anyway.

After a quick wave goodbye, the skeleton rushed onwards down the passage. No time to pour the water out of his boots. No time to stall.

Sans was missing, and in the strangest of ways.

Maybe it was the conversation he’d had with Frisk, earlier - but Papyrus had _questions_. Who was that strange monster? What was all that screeching? More importantly, why was he accusing Sans of larceny? He frowned. His brother was no thief! Except with condiments.

His pace slowed a little.

… What had happened to Sans’ hands? Why was he becoming so… strange-looking?

... what was wrong with his _teeth?_

These questions, he knew, probably wouldn’t be answered. He didn't get many answers after all. But that didn’t matter right now! Sans was in immediate danger, and so, Papyrus felt immediate action was necessary. He would scout out the entire Underground if he had to!

However, in his rush to get started searching, he’d realized that he’d left Undyne and Frisk behind.

He would have backtracked, but after a brief moment of debating, he figured that he could find Sans on his own. Besides - if Undyne decided to search on her own, too, they would cover more ground that way!

If only his cellphone worked. If only he still  _had_  a cellphone.

For now - finding his brother took priority. Tracking Sans down in general wasn’t always easy. If he didn’t want to be found, he would vanish completely.

Which was why this time, he felt quite uneasy. His brother had  _not_  vanished willingly.

Papyrus always kept an eye on Sans, and in spite of his laziness, he  _knew_  his brother was capable of defending himself. Whether through accidental means, or during an emergency, even in the face of danger - Papyrus had borne witness to his brother’s prowess and laid-back assurance.

Surrounded by the strange, black energy, his brother had not looked very in control of the situation at all.

He hadn’t teleported. He hadn’t deflected the mystery man’s actions with a pun. He hadn’t summoned his weaponry.

Sans hadn’t even seemed entirely awake.

Papyrus slowed to a stop, at the turnoff to Undyne’s house, looking around.

He hadn’t seen Sans in that state for a long, long time. He  _was_  familiar with times where Sans hadn’t quite been on top of things. He could pick up on when his brother was sad - but it was hard to see, most of the time.

Sans wasn’t sad in the way most people were, after all.

But this time, Papyrus couldn’t really put his finger on it. He’d been so used to looking out for his brother in small simple ways over the past several years - having Sans in an immediate danger that he couldn’t seem to handle seemed almost unbelievable.

He stood up straight.

All the more reason to persevere! Perhaps Sans had managed to escape the clutches of the Mystery Man. Maybe he’d teleported back to their house, and was napping on the sofa.

Maybe he didn’t need to worry so much at all...

As Papyrus approached the turnoff to Gerson’s old store (boarded up, now) his train of thought was brought to a halt when he heard something echoing from straight ahead.

He peered down through the darkness of the passage. It was a strange noise... A kind of… electronic screech?

Eyes growing wide, he shot straight past the houses, past Gerson’s old shop and into the next room.

Papyrus looked around eagerly for the noise’s source, only for his gaze to fall onto a large, blue-petaled plant.

He slumped, heavily. It had only been an Echo Flower.

...But the fact that it  _was_  screeching was quite strange. In fact, quite a few of them were. Some were repeating the screeches of others, looping back around the room over and over.

Papyrus cringed, looking around warily. In his gusto, he hadn’t realised that he had reached the infamous “Creepy Room.” Even Undyne, as brave as she was, couldn’t stand this place. Echo Flowers repeating what they’d heard to the point where they became incomprehensible whispers. It was pretty spooky.

They were a lot clearer than usual, though. That meant the sound had been introduced pretty recently. The rounding of noises would always steadily grow more quiet, as the flowers picked up less and less of the noise with each loop.

Initially starting to back out of the room, Papyrus suddenly stopped himself. No! No running away. This sound - it was  _definitely_  that strange, electronic screech that had sounded when Sans had been taken away. He was sure of it!

He glanced around. Did that mean that Sans and the strange man had passed through here?

“SANS?!” He called. Then, abruptly covered his mouth, as the Echo Flowers closest to him parroted back his call.

Ah, darn it. He probably needed to listen to them all before he said anything, first. Maybe they could tell him more.

He stepped onwards, hands still over his mouth and listening for anything strange. Some Echo Flowers had retained the screech, but amidst the din, he could hear a whisper from… somewhere. He couldn't pinpoint where.

His thoughts were interrupted when something crunched under his foot, and he blinked, looking down to see several charred bits of rubble. His eyes grew wide at the sight of a broken, scorched. cave wall. One of the plaques had been damaged to the point of the text becoming unreadable.

How had that happened? He supposed Undyne would have taken a small bit of pleasure from seeing their boring history being blown up in a rather impressive fashion, but it was a little sad to see.

Papyrus hurried over to the flowers closest to the damage. He knelt down and listened closely.

“-s-”

“-us to the-”

“-take us to-”

He frowned. A whole lot of nonsense. And it was still creepy. He moved further down the hall, before suddenly hearing a much louder and familiar whisper from a nearby flower.

_“TAKE US TO HOTLAND.”_

A buzzing sound followed. A crackle of energy.

Papyrus brightened.

It was the same voice! He was sure of it, now! It had been hard to understand, but it was unmistakably that of the Mystery Man!

Briefly priding himself on his deduction skulls, Papyrus looked around at the other few Echo Flowers. Maybe they had some more clues, as well - but getting to Hotland was at the top of the list!

For once. (He would tolerate the conveyor belts and malfunctioning traps if he had to.)

With his mind made up, Papyrus continued his pace through the room for a few more seconds... before grinding to a halt.

Wordlessly, he stepped backwards, until he was face-to-face with a peculiar Echo Flower.

It looked the same as every other one. Same height, same colour. But it was emitting the most peculiar noise.

The flower was  _roaring_.

Papyrus studied it, a little wide-eyed.

It was hushed, having quieted down from some of the white noise echoing around the room, but it was still very much a roar. An angry one. Beastlike?

Weird. Papyrus knelt down next to the flower, listening intently. He didn’t know a lot of monsters that could make that noise. Maybe someone had dropped a box on their toe while everyone was moving through here to New Home? Or -

His expression dropped as the roar repeated itself.

 “… OH.” Papyrus whispered, quietly.

After a moment, he sat down, hard.

Hunching over, he gripped his left arm a little uneasily, spending a few moments just staring and listening intently to the flower.

The roar repeated, over and over - becoming more and more faint as time went on.

Quietly, the skeleton slowly stood up, again.

Papyrus remembered peering into the shadows of his brother’s hood, moments before he’d been shoved away - before he'd been teleported away. He remembered what he’d seen, there. His brother’s face had appeared quite different from what he was used to.

But...  _different_ did not necessarily mean _unfamiliar_.

The sound the Echo flower made… the loud, terrifying roar... kind of helped the whole ordeal make a little more sense.

In a confusing, convoluted kind of way.

Papyrus let his hands drop to his sides.

... He had a strange memory from a long time ago. It was a strange event, that he hadn’t even really thought much about t'il now. He’d never found out the whole picture, after all. After it was all said and done, like with many things, Sans hadn’t really told him what happened. He hadn’t explained a thing.

… And like with many things to do with his brother, Papyrus wasn’t sure about asking.

And so, they’d moved on and left it be.

The skeleton thought to himself, determination rising.

… If that strange, dark monster had been responsible for  _this_  particular problem of Sans’, Papyrus needed to find and apprehend the man immediately. There was no time to waste!

He charged off deeper into the caves. After all, as far as he knew, Sans had always been happy being a perfectly normal skeleton.

The last time he’d seen his brother with a strange, beastly skull…

… he’d looked absolutely _miserable._


	4. A Catalyst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things get more complicated.

Hotland hadn’t changed, much.

The noisy machinery that had once echoed throughout the burning caverns had ground to a halt, having lost its power supply. The traps and puzzles had shut down completely, leaving an eerie silence.

The distant hissing and gurgling of molten magma sounded from below, still lighting up the cavern to a visible state.

Gaster’s eyes rose, observing the area.

He was not entirely sure how much time had passed. He was confident that it had been several years, if the appearance of a certain skeleton had been anything to go by.

The place was empty of everyone. All the monsters had moved on. All he knew were pieces of a puzzle - glimpses as he'd tried to reach out from the void.

He’d been diligent. Watchful - he’d figured out enough. That the barrier had finally been broken.

There was little other reason for the CORE to be deactivated, after all.

He drifted across the searing hot ground - though he never quite connected with it. He had no legs - no possible way for him to move, but he wasn’t quite abiding by the rules of reality, right now. He moved like a spectre, black wisps trailing after his shapeless form in his wake - though occasionally his movements would stutter - suddenly flickering ahead a few metres more than he should be.

He had dismissed his hands for now - no use for them unless his tools grew unruly.

Speaking of which…

He glanced over his shoulder. The new Gaster Blaster was still placated, following after him obediently. It had not given him any trouble since they had arrived here.

It had proved useful. It still had Sans’ properties and abilities, including teleportation and speed. He’d taken away its body to keep it compact, but he could not dismiss it back into his inventory.

The presence of a complete soul made that task too difficult.

Gaster turned away from the skull, thinking instead about his own presence, and the events earlier that day.

The energy spears, particularly, from the Captain of the Royal Guard (she had grown considerably since he’d seen her last) came to mind.

It seemed that couldn’t be affected by physical attacks.

They certainly… _felt_ unpleasant, but they couldn’t cripple him. In his current state, not even magic seemed to affect him.

There seemed to be perks to just having a foot in the door of existence.

The tradeoff was, he couldn’t interact physically with the objects in this world. He needed a little more substance to him.

His will was strong - he had been able to reach out and reclaim his weaponry with relative ease. With Sans, however, it had taken _far_ longer than it should have.

He needed more presence of mind.

…He needed more presence, period.

Gaster looked out over the scorching magma, unable to really feel its heat, before approaching his intended destination.

That was _precisely_ why he was here.

They had reached elevator L2. It was no longer functional, of course, but Gaster had no interest in using the contraption. His new tool could easily transport him wherever he wished.

He was more interested in the figure next to it.

It was an odd-looking monster. It was large, and completely devoid of colour - and resembled a head popping out of the ground. Its face was stretched into a perpetual smile, its eyes staring off in two directions on either side of its head. It was mumbling to itself, as if it hadn’t seen him approach.

But perhaps most unusual about the monster was that its entire being seemed to flicker on the spot. Its image stuttered and warped wildly, every so often.

As if it wasn’t entirely there.

Gaster’s smile cut across his face, and his four floating hands materialised around him.

There was a blink, and suddenly, he was hovering face-to-face with the creature.

The creature’s unfocused eyes suddenly aligned, staring back at him.

**_HELLO, OLD FRIEND._ **

Gaster tilted his head, as the monster seemed to withdraw, suddenly very aware of their surroundings. Then, they leaned back in again, as if to study him more closely.

**“...You have returned.”**

**_I HAVE._** He outstretched a single hand. **_IT SEEMS_** ** _YOU HAVE SOMETHING OF MINE. I WISH TO HAVE IT BACK._**

The monster’s expression didn’t change, but they took a long pause before speaking once more.

**“... I see. Directly to business. That is not like you, my dear.”**

Gaster’s smile remained upon his features. However, it suddenly seemed much more empty.  
****

**“You liked to talk. Catch up. Analyse. Even gossip.”** It paused. **“I did not gossip about you, by the way. Not back then, and certainly not now.”**

It turned its great head, its form twisting like a ribbon, as it looked out over the magma, towards the massive, imposing structure of the CORE.  
****

**"I had a feeling that you were still around.”**  
****

The monster’s mouth opened wide, its smile threatening to sever the top of its head from its neck.

**“That begs the question, my dear. _Are_ you really here? Will you ever be here?”**

Its eyes grew wider, its pupils shrinking into pinpricks.

**“I know _I_ am not. None of us are. We are all _gone_ , doct - ”**

It was interrupted by a hand plunging deep into its head, reaching through the space between realities. It gripped something inside the monster’s skull, dragging it out with a crackle of energy, leaving the monster’s image flickering and buzzing uncontrollably on the spot.

 ** _… YOU CERTAINLY ENJOYED WASTING TIME, DIDN'T YOU VAL?_**  Gaster said dismally, as the monster dissolved into blocky particles, an electronic screech filling up the caverns as it disappeared.

Gaster studied his prize. It was a glowing, purple fragment, gripped within his fingers. It was starting to lose what little shape it had, shaking harder and harder, losing stability.

He needed to act quickly.

Gaster plunged the fragment into his chest.

It came in a sting, then a thrum, and then an invigorating surge that travelled outward throughout his entire form. His eyes, formerly dark and pupil-less, suddenly developed dim, purple pinpricks of light. His smile stretched wide across his face.

His stuttering form seemed to stabilise a little. The wispy, black mass that he could barely call a body seemed to solidify, to the point where he felt his ‘feet’ (if he had them) could almost make contact with the ground.

Ah, yes. This was certainly a step in the right direction.

Pun entirely intended.

He turned to face the CORE.

Though… with this new event, he also needed to check on something else.

Reaching out, he beckoned the Gaster Blaster skull to his side, and commanded it to take him to another location.

A surge and a crackle, and he was back in the CORE. The observation chamber to its _own_ core, specifically.

The lights were gone. The emergency backup generators had now become depleted of energy, and the only source of light was the dark star, the only remnant of the contraption’s power.

He studied it, carefully.

…There had been no change in its condition. Not even when he’d gained more of a grasp on this side of the abyss.

It seemed his anchor was reliable, so far. But he would need to check in, periodically. He did not want this anchor to slip, after all.

He did not want to fall helplessly back into the void.

Satisfied with the CORE's condition, he turned to the Gaster Blaster. He felt a new kind of excitement, one that had been absent from him for so long. He was a little curious of the possibilities - what could he accomplish, being connected to both reality _and_ the void? Obviously, the more he leant towards one, the less he would be able to affect the other.

Physical attacks could potentially connect with him, now. Or perhaps not quite connect, but affect him moreso.

He chuckled. Ironic! He’d waited so long to return to this world… and now he was hesitant to part with the abilities that nonexistence granted him.

But, _no_.

His expression grew stern.

He knew that he would need to ground himself sooner or later. He did not know how long this bridge from the void would last. Too many variables - even with the Underground emptied. In the end, what mattered was that he _returned._

Gaster smiled, summoning all of the Gaster Blasters. Eight, it appeared. (He briefly wondered if Sans had hidden away even more).

His gaze fell on the Gaster Blaster to his right, still floating obediently nearby.

Nine, in total.

He cupped one of his hands beneath his chin. Even if Gaster did properly regain his physical form, he certainly would not be vulnerable, at the very least.

He focused hard on the ninth Gaster Blaster, drifting along its front as he paced in thought of its former identity.

He thought back to the events in Snowdin. It had been a hassle to obtain it. Sans had certainly put up a fight, despite his focus.

Not to mention, he hadn’t been alone. Someone had steadfastly tried to keep him focused...

Gaster froze in mid-thought.

The purple pupils in his eyes shrank into pinpricks.

He turned to face the Blaster. It still hung in the air, expressionless.

 ** _... PAPYRUS CERTAINLY HASN'T CHANGED AT ALL, HAS HE?_** Gaster asked, his face warping into a large smile. 

He suddenly frowned again, as the slightest bit of blue light began to flicker in his tool’s eyes. He placed a firm hand on its forehead, and it subsided.

**_THAT WASN’T YOUR CUE TO GUSH ABOUT HIM, AGAIN._ **

Gaster chuckled a little despite his irritation.

 

 _Papyrus._  Sans' younger brother.

Ultimately quite forgettable.

In the glimpses Gaster had of the world beyond the void, every time the lanky skeleton had shown up, his antics had been nothing short of dismal at best. And obnoxious at their worst.

He shook his head. It _was_ apparent that the brothers still cared for one another.

Even though their bond was absolutely littered with secrets.

If the incident back in Snowdin had taught him anything, it was that the younger skeleton was intent on pursuing Sans, no matter what. And with what little influence Gaster had, Sans could be responsive. Papyrus could prove a hindrance.

Gaster's initial thought was to simply be rid of him.

 

... but his next thought went somewhere else _entirely._

 

He stared hard at Sans, raising his brows.

It would be a detour, ultimately. Part of him wanted to stick to the matter at hand - regaining his place in this dimension.

But another part of him demanded his curiosity be sated. 

There was potential here. And he could _use_ it.

...Yes. He had plenty to work with.

 

He dismissed the rest of his arsenal, focusing on the remaining Blaster.

 ** _MY OFFICE._** Hecommanded.

Another crackle. The Blaster warped them to one of the lower rooms of the CORE, several floors below the observation chamber.

Cabinets lined the small room. In the back was a desk, stacked with papers and plans. Folders, with tabs covered with roman numerals. A small, but very elaborate chemistry lab was set up close to the (locked) office door. Dim lighting came from a reinforced glass window, facing the CORE’s core.

Despite the darkness, Gaster could tell that nothing had been touched since the day he left.

He stepped forward. There were still a few shattered vials upon the tiled floor. The white glow of his weapon’s eyes illuminated the room some more, causing the shards to glint in the gloom.

He drifted to a cabinet. His fingers passed through the handle a couple of times. Focusing, he felt his fingers finally touch the cold steel - and smiled when he actually _felt_ the temperature.

He pulled the door open.

Inside, upon a dusty shelf, there were a few small, glowing vials.

They were marked with dates of production and batch numbers. Gaster hadn’t made a lot of them - honestly, he’d simply made more in case the first batch was swatted out of his hands by the person it was intended for.

The liquid glowed a bright violet, illuminating his fingers as he focused on picking it up.

It was warm. Still potent.

After a moment of examining it, the vial vanished as it was safely tucked away into his inventory.

Gaster warped back to the observation chamber for a brief moment, eyeing the core once more. As far as he could tell, it was still stable. Still strong. He believed he would not have to worry about any sort of instability for a while.

He turned to back the Blaster. It hadn’t shown any more signs of disobedience - Gaster’s influence was getting stronger.

That was ideal. He didn’t need it interfering with what he was going to do next.

The scientist closed his eyes. It had been a long time since he'd run a test like this. Papyrus fit the criteria just fine. As he was, the skeleton presented little use to Gaster at all. 

But this wouldn't be the first time the doctor had solved such a problem.

Gaster felt through the void - focused for a familiar energy signature, and pinpointed it.

 ** _WATERFALL._** He whispered.

With that, Gaster warped out of the room with the Blaster, leaving the room in silent darkness.

From within the office trash can, Alphys let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.

 

 

* * *

 

“SAAANS! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, PLEASE FOLLOW THE SOUND OF MY VOICE! I KNOW IT MIGHT BE HARD TO HEAR, BUT THAT’S JUST BECAUSE IT’S WATERED-DOWN.”

The sounds of sloshing water filled the caves as Papyrus waded through the Echo Flower marshes.

No response. He sighed. That had been one of his better ones, too.

It had taken a while to get to this point. The Lantern Room had proven quite difficult to navigate in the darkness - and at one point he’d accidentally ended up at a strange village (Nobody was there at the time, but at the time he’d felt… something. He’d immediately backtracked).

“THE RIVER PERSON SURE IS LAZY, TODAY.” He said out loud, not really caring about the Echo Flower that parroted his words back. He’d checked the river landing for quicker transport, only for the River Person to be absent.

He’d waited about fifteen seconds before deciding that time was wasting, and ran off ahead.

He was close to Hotland, anyway! Papyrus was sure it hadn’t taken him long at all to reach this point. Surely the Mystery Man was still up ahead.

It wasn’t as if he could easily outpace the Great Papyrus.

Stepping out of the marshes and stopping a moment to empty his boots of water, he realized that he was coming close to Undyne’s Crag. The mandated Precarious Bridge was in view from the next room, and he strode forward.

Only to stop for a moment.

The air seemed… heavy. He couldn’t quite place what it was about it. Usually the wind around here was howling, but right now it seemed… still.

He crossed the bridge approaching the Crag, the entrance to Hotland. He stared over the abyss towards the castle in the distance.

After reaching the safety of the more stable plateau, Papyrus curled his gloved hands into circles and peered through them like binoculars with a small “Nyeh heh!” trying to get a better view of the castle.

He wondered if everyone was on the surface, now.

Then, something in the darkness caught his eye. He focused his makeshift binoculars downward.

Two, white, glowing rings - not so much unlike eyes - appeared from within the blackness. They seemed to be floating upwards from the abyss.

Papyrus let his arms drop to his sides, a little startled.

Another pair appeared to the left of them.

Then another to the right…

Papyrus stared at them in confusion, then flinched when he felt a presence coming from right behind him.

He spun on the spot…

…only to come face-to-face with a large, monstrous skull, staring directly at him.

The skeleton flinched, before stomping his foot down in anger.

“DON’T _DO_ THAT!” He scolded, before doing a quick double-take.

That skull - those eyes and teeth.

Papyrus perked up.

“OH!”

Wait a minute! This was one of Sans’ strange cannons! He was sure of it!

He stepped toward it, curiously. He’d never seen one of them up close, before - yet it looked quite familiar.

It had a face and a mouth - perhaps that meant it could speak? He cleared his throat.

“EXCUSE ME, WEIRD SKULL - BUT YOU WOULDN’T HAPPEN TO KNOW WHERE YOUR OWNER IS, WOULD YOU?”

Papyrus waited a moment. The skull didn’t respond. It simply floated there, unresponsive.

His shoulders sagged. “WELL, IT WAS WORTH A TRY.”

**_DO NOT WORRY. YOU DON’T NEED TO LOOK FAR._ **

The voice almost seemed to snake through the air. Papyrus spun on the spot, wide-eyed.  
****

“OH.”

He was surrounded. By quite a few of the skulls - most of them had risen from the darkness, from all sides of the plateau.

All eyes were fixed on him.

He frowned, placing a hand under his chin. “WELL, THERE CERTAINLY ARE A LOT OF YOU. I DON’T REMEMBER SANS HAVING NEARLY THIS MANY.”

**_THAT’S A FAIR ASSUMPTION TO MAKE._ **

Papyrus jolted, looking over his shoulder.  
****

Standing on the precarious bridge, just off the plateau of the Crag, was the Mystery Man, a hand on the closest skull. The skeleton spun to properly face him.

**_AFTER ALL, THEY NEVER WERE REALLY HIS TO BEGIN WITH._ **

Papyrus blinked at the cryptic statement, but decided it wasn’t important. He pointed at him, firmly. “IT’S YOU! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO TOOK MY BROTHER AWAY!”

His expression dropped. “WHO ARE YOU, ANYWAY?”

Blank-faced, the man gave a slight nod and stepped forward, leaving his disembodied hand atop the monstrous skull.

**_WE’VE NEVER BEEN FORMALLY INTRODUCED, HAVE WE?_ **

He gave a small bow.

**_I AM DOCTOR W. D. GASTER. IT IS… INTERESTING TO FINALLY MEET YOU IN PERSON, PAPYRUS._ **

The skeleton blinked in surprise, scratching the back of his neck.

“NYEH-HEH-HEH! DOES THE REPUTATION OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS PRECEDE ME?” He said, brightly.

**_OF COURSE IT DOES._ **

Gaster rose to face the skeleton. **_YOUR BROTHER NEVER DID STOP TALKING ABOUT YOU._**  
****

Papyrus’ face fell.

“THAT’S RIGHT!” He summoned his blue attack to his side. “LISTEN HERE! I’VE BEEN TRACKING YOU DOWN FOR A GOOD HOUR - AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DEMAND THAT YOU UNHAND MY BROTHER!”

Papyrus frowned, suddenly noting his absence. “…WHEREVER HE IS!”

The doctor clasped two of his hands together. **_‘UNHAND,’ HM?_**

He looked around at the monstrous skulls, and suddenly, Papyrus was aware of the threat they could present to him.

It didn’t look like these currently belonged to Sans at all.

**_ARE YOU EVEN IN A POSITION TO BE MAKING THIS DEMAND?_ **

Papyrus seemed to falter a moment. However, he took a deep breath and stood tall. “OF COURSE I AM! I CAN’T GIVE UP ON SANS WHEN HE’S IN PERIL!” He took a battle stance, prepared to leap away from laser fire if he had to. “NOW PLEASE, TELL ME WHERE HE IS! I DO NOT WISH TO FIGHT YOU.”  
****

Gaster smiled. It was not a nice smile.

**_STRANGE. YOU ARE SO EAGER TO FIND YOUR THIEVING BROTHER, YET YOU CANNOT RECOGNISE HIM IN PLAIN SIGHT._ **

The skeleton loosened his battle stance, wide-eyed.  
****

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

Then, quite suddenly, it hit him.

Sans had indeed looked quite different the last time he’d seen him.

Sharp teeth, beastly skull…

His gaze drifted around the skulls surrounding him.

… jagged spikes…

… really not unlike all these blasters, if he thought about it.

Three of Gaster’s hands floated outwards, gesturing to the surrounding skulls.

**_CAN YOU EVEN TELL WHICH ONE HE_ IS _?_**

Papyrus froze.

He stared up at the large, monstrous skulls surrounding him.

“W-WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?” He asked. But in spite of his voiced confusion, his gaze was suddenly darting between each Blaster.

… That couldn’t be right.

They all looked the _same_. None of them even had a body…

His bones rattled, slightly. Where was Sans?

“… WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?”

A blink, and suddenly the scientist was inches from his face, flickering and stuttering in the air. He flinched back.

**_HE IS SLEEPING. NOT SO UNUSUAL FOR HIM, IS IT?_ **

Papyrus took a step back, holding his head up high. His gaze fell on the Blaster skull behind Gaster, noticing the disconnected hand planted firmly on its forehead.

A small flicker of blue within its blank, empty stare, and Papyrus could sense it.

He could sense his brother’s energy, faintly emitting from the strange weapon.

The skeleton suddenly felt very cold.

“S-SANS…?”

There was no response from the skull. It simply hovered there, its gaze unfocused.

Papyrus’ eyes flicked back to Gaster.

“… WHY ISN’T HE TALKING?”

The doctor continued smiling at him, and the skeleton was slowly beginning to realise _exactly_ how much danger Sans was in.

“… YOU NEED TO RETURN HIM RIGHT AWAY!” He said, firmly. “RIGHT NOW!"

He thought back to the blank look on Sans’ face, just before he had been teleported away.

"PLEASE - YOU NEED TO RETURN HIM TO NORMAL! I-I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO HIM... BUT SANS CAN’T BE HAPPY LIKE THIS!”

 ** _I ASSURE YOU._** The scientist drifted back a bit. **_SANS FEELS NO PAIN IN THIS STATE. HE FEELS NO SADNESS._**

Gaster tilted his head.

 **_HE FEELS NOTHING. IT IS A PEACEFUL ALTERNATIVE TO WHAT HE GOES THROUGH, DAY IN AND DAY OUT._ **  
****

“B-BUT…” Papyrus tensed. “BUT HE DIDN’T _WANT_ THIS…”

His gaze was fixed on the furthermost Blaster again, trying to glimpse the blue flicker again. It hurt. Sans was there - he knew he was there… but at the same time, he wasn’t.

It frightened him.

“I _KNOW_ HE DOESN’T WANT THIS.”

**_…DO YOU, NOW?_ **

A violet glow appeared out of the corner of his eye.  
****

Papyrus snapped out of his thoughts and looked back to Gaster to see a small, glowing vial being held in his fingers.

“… WHAT IS THAT?”

Gaster didn’t respond. He merely let the vial drop into the palm of his hand and clenched it into a fist. The glass shattered.

Violet energy swirled around his fist. Crackling and sparking and spluttering, threatening to worm its way down his arm. Yet he stood tall, eyes fixed on Papyrus who stared back, unnerved.

Whatever that magic was - it seemed very unstable.

**_PAPYRUS…_ **

Gaster tilted his head.

**_… I WISH I COULD SAY THAT THIS HAS BEEN A PLEASURE._ **

He plunged the energy-infused hand _inside_ Papyrus’ chest.  
****

The skeleton screamed silently in his shock and pain, his spine arching backwards. Violet light shone through his armour, patterned by his ribcage. The light surged out of his eyes, his mouth, every part of him, sweeping around the surface of his bones and then _constricting_ them, tighter and tighter until they had seeped into his limbs, sinking deep into his marrow.

Gaster removed his hand.

It had not broken through the armour plating at all - it had merely phased through. Yet the skeleton felt like he’d been punched in the sternum.

The light subsided, and Papyrus collapsed to the rocky ground, hard. His body trembled from the impact, magical energy still buzzing and crackling around him, eventually fading away.

“W-WHAT WAS _THAT_ …?” He stuttered. His limbs all felt heavy, his head dazed. He had certainly never seen an attack like that, before.

Papyrus slowly rose to his feet, with difficulty, trying to plant his feet on the rocky ground.

He hadn’t really been harmed. Perhaps the attack had failed? He glanced up at Gaster, gaze darting between him and the furthermost Blaster.  
****

**_YOUR BROTHER MAKES FOR AN EFFICIENT WEAPON, PAPYRUS._ **

The skeleton shook his head. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t what Sans wanted, he knew that for a fact. Why was Gaster doing this to him? What terrible thing had happened to make him this way? Why did…  
****

A crack sounded, and he winced as pain suddenly bloomed from the side of his face. He subconsciously grasped at his cheekbone - and froze.

He ran his hand across the side of his head, eyes growing wide.

Bumps. Jagged edges.

… growing larger.

His gaze darted upwards to Gaster, who had tilted his head in fascination.

 **_… WOULD YOU CARE TO JOIN HIM?_ **  
****

“W-WHAT…?”  
****

Another crack sounded, and his other hand suddenly gripped the other side of his head.

“WHAT IS…”

His jaw ached terribly, and he reached over to feel at his chin… then reached up to his teeth, noticing they seemed to be creaking oddly.

A brief prick of pain.

He withdrew his hand, his breathing quickening.

… sharp. They were sharp…

… what was wrong with his _teeth?!_

A surge of energy caused him to lurch forward, and he hugged his torso, straining against the pain that was suddenly blooming outwards throughout his entire body. More cracks and pops sounded from his joints, and he struggled to keep balance, eyes shut tight.

Cracking…

His eyes shot open.

… just like _Sans_.

Papyrus suddenly stared up at Gaster, who was watching him intently. His smile had vanished, and his eyes seemed to now be boring into him.

The skeleton’s eyes grew wide.

Whatever had happened to Sans…

… was happening to _him_ , too.

Papyrus took a deep breath, and stomped his foot down.

_“NO!”_

He felt his bones still straining, but he stood tall. He could feel his fingertips stretching against the fabric of his gloves, though a sudden rip told him that he was starting to develop claws, himself.

“I’M SORRY - BUT I CAN’T STOP HERE!” Papyrus said, firmly. “MY BROTHER STILL NEEDS ME!”

He took a step forward, summoning a bone attack to his side. “IF YOU DON’T GIVE HIM BACK, THEN I’M AFRAID I’M GOING TO HAVE TO KEEP CHASING YOU UNTIL YOU DO!”

The strain on his bones lessened. Papyrus didn’t feel like anything else was changing, and stood tall as a result.

He could do this.

Gaster tilted his head. He looked introspective for a moment, his pupils darting in thought.

Then, he gave a small smile.

**_… YOUR BROTHER NEEDS_ YOU? **

Papyrus nodded, firmly. “OF COURSE! HE CAN’T GET ANYTHING DONE WITHOUT ME LOOKING AFTER HIM!”

For some reason, the grip on his weapon increased.

 ** _A FINE JOB…_** Gaster observed, crossing his arms. **_A FINE JOB OF CARING FOR SOMEONE WHO YOU CANNOT RECOGNISE._**

Papyrus frowned. “OF _COURSE_ I CAN RECOGNISE - “

A sudden screech, and suddenly, Gaster was directly to his left, his image stuttering in place. Papyrus stumbled back in alarm, his attack suddenly flickering in his grasp.

**_WHAT KIND OF BROTHER LETS HIS SIBLING BE STOLEN AWAY BY SO_ EASILY?**

He drifted around to face the skeleton directly.

**_WHAT KIND OF PERSON GOES ON, DAY IN AND DAY OUT, NOT DOING A THING ABOUT HIS DEAR BROTHER’S SUFFERING?_ **

Papyrus froze. “I-I DO EVERYTHING I _CAN_ \- ”

 ** _AND YET HERE WE ARE._** Gaster’s hands spread out to his sides. **_YOU NEVER ASKED HIM, DID YOU? YOU WERE CONTENT TO GO ALONG YOUR MERRY WAY, RAMBLING ON AND ON ABOUT HOW MARVELLOUS YOU WERE - LETTING YOUR POOR BROTHER SINK DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO HIS MISERY._**

He was suddenly inches from the skeleton’s face.

 **_AND WHAT DID YOU DO, HM? OFFER SPAGHETTI?_  **He chuckled. ** _DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT SANS HAS BEEN THROUGH?_ **

A flicker of orange appeared in Papyrus’ eyes. Gaster smiled at its presence.

 _There_ it was.

“I-I…”

The bone attack vanished out of Papyrus’ grasp. But the skeleton kept holding firm.

“H-HE DOESN’T NEED TO… TELL ME ANYTHING!” His eyes remained firm. “HE DOESN’T NEED TO TELL ME ANYTHING HE DOESN’T _WANT_ TO… BECAUSE I’LL LOOK AFTER HIM, R-REGARDLESS!”

 ** _AS I SAID. A FINE JOB._** Gaster leaned back, linking his fingers together. He tilted his head, as if reflecting.  
****

**_YOU KNOW… I’VE BEEN KEEPING AN EYE ON SANS FOR A LONG, LONG WHILE. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH HE CARES FOR YOU? HOW MUCH HE’D SACRIFICE FOR YOU?_ **

His frame began to shake with laughter. **_AND HOW MUCH HE TRIES TO PROTECT YOU? FROM HIS PROBLEMS. FROM EVERYTHING. HE KEEPS IT ALL TOGETHER - ALL FOR_ YOUR _SAKE, PAPYRUS._**

His violet eyes gazed down at Papyrus.  
****

**_HOW VERY_ LUCKY _YOU ARE._**  
****

The strain on Papyrus’ bones seemed to increase. His breathing began to quicken, as a strange feeling seemed to cloud his mind. He brought a hand to his head, noticing that his skull was feeling more unfamiliar by the second.

Why was Gaster doing all this…?

**_HE PROTECTS YOU, AT HIS OWN EXPENSE._ **

… why was shaking so much?

**_LETTING HIM SUFFER IN SILENCE…_ **

… why was it getting so hard to _think?_  
****

**_WHAT KIND OF BROTHER_ ARE _YOU, PAPYRUS?_ **

He felt something burst out of his vertabrae, and he cried out - quickly placing both clawed hands over his mouth in shock.

A screech. That hadn’t sounded like him at _all_.

His concerns gave way to pain. The strain in his bones had grown to the point where it was almost unbearable. He felt spikes begin to push out from the back of his radial bones, felt himself begin to _grow._

Papyrus struggled to put a stop to the changes, but his mind was racing with Gaster’s words.

Sans… he’d _known_ Sans was suffering…

… why hadn’t he asked him what the matter was?

Why couldn’t he have been more helpful?

The changes were beginning to speed up. Papyrus felt his feet expand, and claws visibly ripped through his red boots. He trembled, shutting his eyes.

… had he really helped him? Had he made any kind of difference?

Had he made things worse for his brother? Had he… hurt…

His teeth, growing ever sharper as a muzzle began to push out from his face, gritted tightly.

 _…_ **_hurt_ ** _…_

…it _hurt_. It was getting worse. It was hurting more… _he was getting worse…_

_… everything felt wrong._

He collapsed to his knees, bones rattling quietly.

_Scared…_

The changes came rapidly, now. He couldn’t focus… couldn’t think.

Why was he so afraid…? Why did everything hurt so much…?

He slowly opened his eyes.

They were clouded with a bright, orange light, as the energy flickered around him in small sparks.

… what was happening to him…? He’d…

… he’d forgotten. He was… getting tired.

Something moved above him, and his gaze rose.

Gaster had approached, standing above him - his violet gaze boring down onto him.

The doctor raised a hand, preparing to bring it down on his skull.

The skeleton closed his eyes in resignation.

_… he was so **tired** …_

A hum of energy.

A yell.

An angry roar.

Something shot straight over his head from behind, and his eyes shot open. Gaster stumbled back with a cry, an energy spear piercing through his shoulder.

Several energy spears suddenly whipped past him, embedding themselves into a few of the Blasters that surrounded him. One of the Blasters was splintered, and fell off the side of the plateau, down into the abyss.

Gaster snarled, and with a crackle he vanished. The other Blasters came to attention, turning onto their new target and shooting off in different directions.

… the skeleton heard angry shouting from behind him, but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t really register much of what was happening around him.

It was loud… he was scared…

His eyes began to drift closed as his changes accelerated, once more.

_He didn’t want to be here, anymore…_

_“…yrus!”_

Something grabbed his wrist. Or, at least, part of his wrist.

It seemed too small to wrap around it.

His eyes reopened, blinking slowly. Holding onto him, so tightly that it almost seemed painful, was a child.

The creature tilted his head.

… Strange. It wasn’t like any other monster he’d seen before.

It stared up at him with frightened, desperate eyes. It called up to him, grasping his wrist more tightly.

He slowly curled his clawed hand around the child, a little. He couldn’t quite make out what it was saying - there was such a deafening din coming from the fight behind him…

“P…yrus! Papyrus, are you okay?!”

Something clicked within him. He focused hard on the child, now - trading his exhaustion for alarm.

 

Papyrus? 

 

_…What was a Papyrus?_

 

He leaned forward, stooping low, now - to face the child on the same level. 

He felt… concerned. He felt like he should _know_ this. And yet… he couldn’t really think straight.

“Papyrus…?” The child looked suddenly looked even more worried. “… can you hear me?”

Wait…

 

Papyrus. 

 

_He_ was Papyrus. 

 

The monster blinked. How… how could he have possibly forgotten that?! How could the Great Papyrus forget his own name?

… what _else_ was he forgetting?!

“Papyrus, we still need to save Sans!” The child insisted. Something had changed in their demeanour - they seemed to have realized that the monster before them wasn’t responding as they should.

… Wait.

_Sans…?_

“He needs you, okay?!” The child said, firmly. “He needs your help! Please, Papyrus! Stay determined!”

He shut his eyes.

 

Papyrus… and Sans…

 

… his _brother_.

 

His eyes shot open, the orange light suddenly fading into his normal black eyesockets.

… what was he _doing?!_ Moping like this - when his friends were still in danger! The Great Papyrus didn’t _mope_! He didn’t sit around while there were still things to be done!

His eyes fell on the small human - only, they didn’t seem quite as tiny as before. He withdrew his wrist from the child’s grasp, but he reached out to them, his clawed hands carefully wrapping around their outstretched ones.

He needed to stay strong. He needed to help…

… Sans _needed_ him! Sans, his wonderful, infuriating, _lazy_ and protective brother - needed his help!

Another surge of energy ripped through him as he focused more and more onto what was happening around him. He could hear the sounds of Blaster fire, as well as the enraged cries of the Royal Guard Captain…

… Undyne.

Her name was _Undyne._ She was powerful and kind and a little scary and she had taught him so much and she was his good friend and _how could he have forgotten?_

He bowed forward. Papyrus felt a little like he was falling from a great height as his body shrank down to a much more familiar state.

It was a lot of cracking, a lot of pain… a lot of dizziness.

But close to the end of it, hunched over, he was face-to-face with the child. He slowly released their hands, his own still sparking with orange energy. They hovered around the human’s shoulders, and the human stared up at him, tense and hesitant. Worried for him. Caring for him…

… like the wonderful friend he knew they were.

_“F… RISK…”_

He suddenly clutched their shoulders - gently, _gently_ \- they were a fragile human, after all - and he shook his head.  
****

He was _here_.

“FRISK!” Papyrus cried. “HOW DID YOU GET HERE?!  IT’S NOT SAFE!”

Frisk stared back at him, eyes wide. They seemed to be scanning his features, hard.

“Papyrus…?”

The skeleton blinked, suddenly a little self-conscious. “…WHAT IS IT?”

A hum of energy sounded from behind him, and he finally turned around, releasing Frisk and stumbling to his feet.

**_“NGAAAAAHHH!”_ **

There was electricity in the air. Undyne was darting to and fro, unleashing energy spears left and right, twirling and leaping out of laser fire.

She leapt up to her crag, perching on the top, and dug her fingers into a nearby boulder. Upon seeing a Blaster approach with its jaws open and preparing a blast, she hurled it into its maw, and it was sent flying back by the force.

Another Blaster swooped down next to her, and she plunged a spear into its eye, causing it to flicker and explode into fragments on the spot. She swerved out of the path of another blast, before hurling several spears into the air.

Papyrus blinked.

Gaster’s arsenal had dwindled down to _four_ Blasters. He could see their remains as bone shards on the ground - one mostly intact, but disconnected with its jaw, its eyes now hollow, dark sockets.

He tensed, suddenly having a horrible thought.

_Sans…_

…where was Sans?

Gaster warped out of the line of fire once more. A single Blaster remained by his side throughout the fight, and Papyrus understood precisely why.

He glanced at Undyne, who was preparing another energy spear. Her gaze was focused, her teeth gritted in concentration. She was aiming for Gaster, again.

… no.

Papyrus’ eyes grew wide. She wasn’t aiming for the doctor.

She was aiming slightly to his left.

“UNDYNE, _WAIT!_ ”

The captain’s gaze was broken, and she turned to see Papyrus running towards her.

Her fierce expression dropped at the sight of him.

“YOU CAN’T! NOT THAT ONE! IT’S _SANS!_ ” The skeleton stopped up next to her, stumbling. “I KNOW IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE IT, BUT IT’S REALLY _HIM_!”

Undyne’s gaze remained fixed on Papyrus, and for a moment, the skeleton realised she seemed more focused on _him_ than the information he was giving her.

She suddenly turned back to Gaster, her remaining eye suddenly blazing in rage.

The scientist hovered at a distance, looking notably tired. His image was flickering, suffering slightly from exertion.

There was a crackling sound, and his eyes widened. He turned to focus on the Blaster closest to him.

Its eyes were wildly flickering blue. It seemed to be shaking uncontrollably.

Gaster plunged a hand onto its forehead, and then a second when that did not calm it. The blue light vanished, resuming the white-ringed blank stare.

“SANS…” Papyrus said, softly.

The doctor’s gaze fell on the trio before him, Frisk approaching from behind Papyrus. His eyes narrowed.

**_REGROUP._ **

The remaining four Blasters, one having trouble hovering from almost being crushed by a boulder, suddenly returned to his side.  
****

He turned to face Sans. Quiet, empty Sans.

**_TAKE US TO THE CORE._ **

With a loud crackle of energy, Gaster, the Blasters… and Sans all vanished.

Papyrus stared at the space they left for a few moments, crestfallen.

Seething, Undyne dismissed the spear in her hand.

“Damn it.”

She slammed a foot down on the rocky ground, causing it to crack.

“ _DAMN_ IT.”

Papyrus looked back to Undyne, a little startled by her outburst.

“UNDYNE - WE NEED TO GO AFTER THEM!” He stepped forward. “SANS IS IN A LOT OF DANGER!” He pointed over the abyss, towards the CORE. “IF WE HURRY, WE CAN - ”

He froze, as Undyne’s furious gaze suddenly landed on him. But he was more concerned with the appearance of his hand.

Papyrus brought his hand back in and examined his fingers, wide-eyed.

Claws. He still had _claws_ … he knew they’d ripped through the tips of his glove, but he hadn’t realised that they were still _there_ …

Hesitantly, he brought his hands up to either side of his face.

… his face mostly felt normal, but as he reached further back around his head, he noticed that the spikes he had grown during his change hadn’t quite gone away. Framing his normal, friendly-looking visage were horns, wicked and sharp. His skull had been warped…

… he brought a hand down to his mouth, giving an experimental poke.

His teeth were still sharp, too.

Papyrus’ arms dropped, his eyes wide, examining the claws that had emerged from his boots.

He thought he’d changed back completely… His clothes seemed like they had responded to his changes, even somehow mending a little as he’d shifted back… but…

“… what the hell has he done to Sans?” Undyne said, softly.

He looked up at her. Her eye was blazing, an especially frightening kind of fury rising in her voice.

_“What the hell did he TRY to do to you?!”_

Papyrus wrung his hands, gaze dropping to the ground as Frisk approached, staring up at him in concern.

When his gaze flicked to theirs, the human offered their hand. Carefully, with his new claws, Papyrus grasped it back.

His chest felt heavy.

It had been an incredibly close call. If Frisk and Undyne hadn’t shown up when they did…

… he really wasn’t sure if he would have been himself, anymore.


	5. A Strategy

There was no wind. 

Undyne’s Crag was silent. Eerie.

Dark.

The place’s namesake was staring hard into the distance, seemingly ready to break something in rage.

Papyrus stood there, looking slightly disoriented, but looking down at Frisk in concern.

And Frisk…

Frisk didn’t know what to say.

After a short trip on the River Boat, they and Undyne had rushed through Waterfall in the hopes of running into Papyrus (Undyne had done the rushing, Frisk had merely chosen to sit on her shoulders after failing to perform the ‘jimpity jumpily joodle.’) It hadn’t been too difficult to hone in on his location - there had been some very informative Echo Flowers along the way.

But eventually, upon approaching the exit to Waterfall, they had heard a familiar voice reverberating through the caves.

It was one that they had been seeking, but not the one they’d currently hoped to find.

**_WHAT KIND OF BROTHER ARE YOU, PAPYRUS?_ **

That had been enough to prompt Undyne into a full sprint. She had summoned her energy spears pre-emptively. If Papyrus had indeed encountered the strange man, then they needed to hurry. If the past two hours had been any indication, they knew the man was capable of strange things.  
****

However, nothing had prepared them for what they saw outside Undyne’s Crag.

Frisk had seen the ghastly, stretched-out limbs, the strange and beastly skull, and had heard the strange, garbled screech. But it had horrified them to realise that their owner - the figure kneeling before the mystery man - had indeed been Papyrus. 

The remains of his gloves and boots were visible on his body, and his scarf and armor, though seemingly in the process of dissolving away, remained in sight. He’d been hugging his arms, eyes shut and trembling in a very un-Papyrus way.

And where Frisk had felt fear, Undyne had radiated incredible fury.

She’d hurled the spear, and initially fearing that there would be no effect, Frisk had been almost relieved when the man had reeled from the impact.

Everything after that was a blur. The skull blasters had instantly turned to Undyne as the centre of attention, and though Frisk had to repress their terror at actually seeing the weapons again, the human had leapt off of Undyne’s shoulders and charged forward to help Papyrus.

Only… 

…Papyrus hadn’t seemed like he was awake at all.

It was the same, tired, fearful state that they’d seen Sans in, before. It was as if all the boundless energy from the skeleton had been drained away, leaving a kind of fear and uncertainty that had been as alien and strange to Papyrus as it had been to Sans.

It seemed so wrong, seeing them like that. Had they been nervous before? Yes. Had they seemed afraid before? Of course. But… it had never _paralysed_ them like this.

Whatever this man was doing, whatever he’d done - it wasn't just affecting their bodies.

And Sans…

Frisk swallowed, recalling the hollow eyes, the flickering blue as he had fought to break free. But the thing that featured foremost in their mind now was his new form - nothing but a floating head. The same that he’d used, in a golden hall, in another time and place.

Sans now resembled an awful, awful memory.

…Frisk really didn’t know what to say.

So, trembling, they’d grasped Papyrus’ clawed hand as tightly as they could. 

“FRISK…” 

The skeleton knelt to face them and the human suddenly seemed to feel a little better, seeing his eyes up close. He still looked a little shaken - but the energy that had been sapped away from him seemed to be returning in droves. Not to mention, he suddenly seemed a lot more attentive - peering at Frisk’s face.

“…A-ARE YOU FEELING OKAY?”

After a small stunned pause, Frisk found themselves bursting into nervous laughter.

“I-I should be asking _you_ that, Papyrus!”

The skeleton blinked, then let out a small, nervous chuckle himself.

“NYEH-HEH!” He studied his hands once more, with a little less reservation than before. “I THINK I’M OKAY, FRISK…” He let them rest on his knees (adjusting their position when they touched new spikes), staring back at the human. “I BELIEVE I’M… MUCH POINTIER THAN USUAL, BUT I DO FEEL MUCH BETTER NOW THAT YOU TWO ARE HERE!”

He seemed a little awkward, but the fear and pain that Frisk had seen in him earlier was gone. He seemed to be regaining his enthusiasm the more he spoke - but still, whatever had just occurred seemed to have taken a particular kind of toll on him.

Frisk frowned. 

“… what’s _happened_ to you?”

At this, Papyrus cupped a hand under his mouth in thought.

“I DON’T REALLY KNOW!” He admitted. “THERE WAS A VIAL OF…SOMETHING GLOWY.”

He looked down at the ground, frowning. “THEN HE…” He felt at his chest, subconsciously, as if not really sure how else to phrase it. “AND I STARTED TO…”

Frisk swallowed, recalling the sight of Papyrus as they had approached him.

“… It looked like it was the same thing he was doing to Sans, back then.”

Papyrus seemed to think about this for a moment, and the human noted a faint glimmer of orange in his eyes, before he shook his head rapidly, as if to rid himself of whatever he’d been thinking. He gave his hands another once-over, studying them hard.

“… I WAS REALLY CHANGING, WASN’T I?” Papyrus asked. “LIKE _SANS_. I DIDN’T FEEL LIKE MYSELF AT ALL.”

Frisk frowned. “You weren’t… really acting like yourself, either.” They paused. “W-were you awake? Do you even remember what happened?”

Papyrus’ hesitation seemed to disappear, and his face was set into a thoughtful expression, this time with a bit more enthusiasm. “I REMEMBER MOST OF IT! HE ATTACKED ME WITH THAT GLASSY GLOWY VIAL… AND THEN IT FELT LIKE EVERYTHING WAS GETTING VERY HAZY.”

He looked up at Frisk. “IT WAS LIKE… THINKING WITH YOUR SKULL FULL OF REALLY THICK SOUP. VERY UNPLEASANT ...AND THEN IT FELT LIKE EVERYTHING WAS SUDDENLY TEN-SIZES TOO SMALL…”

Papyrus slowly stood up, frowning when he felt a little unbalanced. His claws had messed up the front his boots, and now there was no support for the balls of his feet. After a moment, he rolled his balance onto his toes, and suddenly looked a bit more stable.

“BUT THEN _YOU_ CAME ALONG! AND THEN I RECOGNISED YOU - AND SUDDENLY, I FELT LIKE MY OLD SELF AGAIN!” He beamed, then frowned a little. “AT LEAST, _MOSTLY_.”

“… you can’t change back any more than that?”

Papyrus suddenly looked over at Undyne, who had been listening to the conversation silently. She was staring towards the distance, at Asgore's Castle from over the dark abyss.

The skeleton thought a moment. “WELL, IF I KNEW HOW, I CERTAINLY WOULD.” He stumbled a little, off-balance. “HOW AM I GOING TO HUG PEOPLE WITHOUT THEM BECOMING SOME KIND OF PIN CUSHION?”

He shook his head. “BUT THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT, RIGHT NOW! GASTER SAID HE’D BE AT THE CORE! AND SANS IS STILL WITH HIM!” With that, he began to march forward. “AT THE SPEED HE’S TRAVELLING, WE NEED TO HURRY! WE MIGHT MISS HIM!”

Frisk blinked. “'Gaster?' Is that his name?” They titled their head. "How do you know?"

“HE TOLD ME!” He walked up to Undyne. “HE WAS VERY TALKATIVE BEFORE HE STARTED - ”

Papyrus was cut off by a firm grasp on his forearm, before he could pass the captain.

Undyne tugged him back to face her.

“‘Gaster,’ huh?”

The skeleton blinked. “Y-YES! WE SHOULD REALLY BE CATCHING UP, OR ELSE - ” 

“I’m gonna correct you on that, Pap.” Undyne said, teeth gritting. “ _I’m_ going. And _you’re_ gonna sit here and not move a muscle.”

She released him, Papyrus’ eyes growing wide.

“U-UNDYNE?!”

“You heard me.” She turned to the Hotlands entrance again. “Get your butt back to Snowdin and **stay** there. Frisk, you stick with him and make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.”

Frisk stepped up towards Undyne, feeling her rage radiating outwards. “But… but why can’t Papyrus come? We should be working together to save Sans!”

“YEAH, UNDYNE!” Papyrus protested. “I CAN’T JUST SIT HERE AND DO NOTHING! WHAT KIND OF BROTHER WOULD -”

He found himself pausing at the words.

“… WHAT KIND OF BROTHER WOULD THAT MAKE ME?” He finished, his gaze growing distant.

Frisk blinked at Papyrus’ tone, before turning back to Undyne. 

And flinched. The look that the Royal Captain gave Frisk was a mix between terrifying and a calming kind of authority.

“... That really was Sans, huh?” She knelt down, picking up a charred stone. “That guy just up and took him - and turned him into _that?”_

She crushed the stone in her grip. Frisk froze.

“My point is, Pap, you’re not getting any more involved in all this.” Undyne growled, before turning to face the castle in the distance, again.

“… because if _that_ was Sans…” She gestured with a hand. “… that… skull cannon thing… If that was really the end result of what that Gaster guy did to him…”

She turned to Papyrus, and Frisk noted that she was staring hard at the strange features he’d developed.

“... he was doing _the same freaking thing to you_. Wasn't he?”

Her voice was evened out. Frisk knew that wasn’t a good sign. During her pursuit through Waterfall, back when the human had been public enemy number one, her tone had been even. Calm. Poised. 

She was _angry_.

“If we take you right to him, what do you think’s gonna _happen_?” Undyne clenched her fist. “If he’s turned Sans into a freaking… _cannon_ , he’ll - ”

She stared hard at Papyrus, who took a step back under to force of her glare.

“How the hell could he try turning someone like _you_ into a _weapon?_  You, of all people?! After I just..."

She trailed off, her face adopting a snarl.

Silence hung over the three of them. And in that moment, Frisk understood that her rage wasn’t just aimed at the mysterious man.

“…I shoulda stopped you sooner.” Undyne growled to herself, before straightening her posture and turning to walk off.

“… SANS ISN’T SUPPOSED TO BE A WEAPON, EITHER.”

Frisk looked over at Papyrus, whose words had stopped the captain in her tracks.

His fists were clenched to either side. He was obviously nervous about talking back to an angry Undyne, but his gaze was firmly fixed on the back of her head. He took a step forward.

“IF… IF I’M NOT MEANT TO BE A WEAPON, I’M SURE SANS ISN’T MEANT TO BE ONE, EITHER.”

Undyne turned to face Papyrus. He stayed resolute.

“I UNDERSTAND BEING WORRIED ABOUT ME.” He glanced down at one of his hands. “ _I’M_ WORRIED ABOUT ME, TOO. BUT SANS…”

He looked down, studying the scorch marks on the rocky ground.

“… HE’S MEANT TO BE COMING UP WITH US TO THE SURFACE. HE’S MEANT TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK, AND SAY HORRIBLE JOKES AND… RECOGNISE US.”

Papyrus paused a moment, before looking back up at the captain.

“UNDYNE, HE’S MY _BROTHER_! I CAN’T LEAVE HIM ALONE, AND I REALLY CAN’T BEAR SEEING HIM LIKE THIS AT ALL! SO, _PLEASE._ ”

There was a silence.

The captain’s gaze didn’t falter, but her ferocity did.

“…Look, Papyrus, I get it.” She shook her head. “But if this guy’s able to turn both you and Sans into… whatever those’re called, who’s to say he’s not gonna do it to you as soon as he sees you?”

She turned back to Papyrus. “If this… Gaster guy _is_ leaping all over the damn place, then who’s to say he couldn’t take you away once he got to you?” She crossed her arms. “The way things were going, you weren’t exactly making an effort to escape.”

“I WASN’T…” Papyrus suddenly brightened. “BUT FRISK SNAPPED ME OUT OF IT!” He looked down at the human, who nodded, a little startled at being mentioned. “IF THEY’RE AROUND, I’M SURE IT WON’T BE A PROBLEM! THEY’RE VERY GOOD AT TALKING SENSE INTO PEOPLE!”

He straightened. “BESIDES, MAYBE SANS WILL RECOGNISE _ME_! IF I SNAPPED OUT OF IT WHEN I SAW YOU TWO, MAYBE IT CAN DO THE SAME FOR HIM! I’M SURE WE CAN ALL HELP BRING HIM BACK!”

Undyne made a face at first, before cracking a small grin, despite herself. “Sounds… like anime.”

“IT’S PERFECTLY LOGICAL!” Papyrus claimed. “BESIDES, IF GASTER CAN TELEPORT AROUND LIKE THAT, WHO’S TO SAY THE HE’LL BE ABLE TO CATCH FRISK AND I ON OUR OWN, EVEN IF WE HEAD OFF IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION? WE DEFINITELY NEED THE ROYAL GUARD CAPTAIN TO PROTECT US!”

Frisk stared up at Papyrus, a little surprised. That… was actually a very good point. This hadn’t been the first time the skeleton had suddenly developed a silver tongue, but it was always a bit startling when he did.

“… it’s true. If he can teleport, then maybe it’s safer for us to stick together.” They added.

“…I still don’t know how the hell he pulls that off.” Undyne seethed, the serious mood seemingly managing to lose its grip on her. “Cheap, dirty trick if you ask me. That’s not _normal_ magic, that’s for sure.”

“SANS.”

Undyne and Frisk glanced over to Papyrus, who stared back.

“I THINK… I THINK _SANS_ HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THAT. HE DOESN’T EXACTLY HAVE NORMAL MAGIC EITHER, RIGHT FRISK?”

Frisk jumped in realization. “Oh!”

The fight. The initial teleportation that had taken Sans away. The way Gaster had left, a few minutes ago. Gaster had his hand on Sans’ head the whole time.

The human suddenly shivered.

“…I-is he _using_ him?” Frisk asked. (They spied the small flicker of orange in Papyrus’ eyes again) “Is _that_ how it works? Can Sans teleport other people?”

Undyne blinked. “…Whoa, wait, hold up. Since when can Sans _teleport_?” 

Frisk swallowed. “Uh…” 

They’d forgotten that Sans’ more advanced abilities weren’t exactly common knowledge. But before they could explain, Undyne’s eye grew wide, and her teeth gritted. 

“… holy crap. _That’s_ how he’s been able to hold all those sentry jobs.” (“That _unbelievable_ slacker.”)

“SO, UNDYNE!” Papyrus suddenly stated, as if to change the topic. “FRISK AND I CERTAINLY _CAN’T_ REMAIN ON OUR OWN. NOT WITH GASTER POSSESSING SUCH LOWBROW TACTICS.”

He stepped forward. “WE ALL REALLY HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SEEK OUT MY BROTHER _TOGETHER_!”

They looked over at Undyne, who was staring with an incredulous expression on her face, processing the situation. 

Then, she sighed.

“Damn it all.”

Suddenly, she straightened, stomping her foot down with the same energy and enthusiasm Frisk knew her for (and leaving another crack on the charred ground). The sobering mood had evaporated off of her, and if Frisk didn’t know any better, they would have sworn they’d seen steam rising off of the fish woman.

“ _PAPYRUS_!”

The skeleton suddenly stood to attention. “Y-YES, UNDYNE?”

“We’re heading into a _hostile_ situation. A dangerous MISSION. One with a lot of uncertainties, weird crap and reality-breaking rules!” Undyne clenched her fists, a strained, furious smile stretching across her features. “BECAUSE THIS GUY IS A NO-GOOD DIRTY SPEAR-AVOIDING _CHEATER_.”

She pointed directly at Papyrus. “So we’re gonna be EXTRA vigilant! YOU HEAR ME, PAP?! No zoning out! No freaking out, or ‘soup-filled skulls’ or _any_ crap like that! And if you can’t help that - ” Her finger turned to Frisk, who almost reeled at the force of her pointing “ - YOU make sure he snaps out of it!”

Undyne let her hand clench into a fist. “We don’t know what his plan is. We don’t know why he’s doing all this. We don’t know what he’s capable of. But THAT doesn’t matter! If he’s gonna screw around with US, by stealing away brothers and potentially _girlfriends_ \- that’s gonna be the last mistake he’ll ever make!”

She punched the air, summoning an energy spear in her fist.

“NOW LET’S GO RESCUE SOME NERDS!!!”

Despite the whole situation, Frisk felt determination swelling within them. Maybe things were uncertain. Maybe they were heading into trouble.

But a friend was in need. 

And reality-breaking shenanigans hadn’t gotten in the way of that, before.

Both Frisk and Papyrus saluted.

“YES, UNDYNE!” They chorused.

“And one _more_ thing!” Undyne said firmly, looking at Papyrus. Her ferocity mellowed out, and she’d regained a more serious tone.

“You gotta understand, Pap - this is a _mission_.” She stated. “A mission that none of us want to fail. If you feel like you’re going to jeopardise it - whether you _want_ to or not - you pull out. You get to safety, and let _me_ deal with the threat.”

She turned so that she was facing him completely. 

“Do you promise me, Papyrus?”

The skeleton stared back, and for a moment, Frisk wondered if he’d falter again. 

Instead, he shouted back, resolutely.

“I _PROMISE_ YOU _,_ UNDYNE! I WILL NOT JEOPARDISE THE MISSION.” He beamed. “I WILL NOT PUT ANYONE IN DANGER.”

The captain gave a firm nod. “Alright. For now, we’ve gotta assume that he’s at the CORE.” She turned to march off. “Unless he’s blinked off somewhere else.”

Papyrus hurried after her. “I THINK HE’S STILL THERE!”

Undyne blinked. “How d’ya know that?”

“I DON’T KNOW! JUST A FEELING I HAVE.”

Frisk stared over at Papyrus. They thought about how shaky he’d seemed, earlier. They thought about the events that had transpired minutes ago. They thought about him - large, beastly and shivering uncontrollably in the face of danger.

They watched him march off with his head held high after Undyne, who had begun moving towards the entrance of Hotland. Then, he stopped, turning back to face them.

“FRISK! ARE YOU COMING ALONG?”

The human blinked out of their thoughts and hurried after the duo. Once they were within arm’s length of Papyrus, he lifted them up and placed them carefully on his shoulders, making sure his head was hunched over enough to avoid poking them with his new spikes.

“WE NEED YOU CLOSE BY, AFTER ALL! LET’S GO!”

Frisk grasped his head for stability as they walked, squeezing one of his shoulders briefly in reassurance. He seemed to relax.

A fierce energy burned in their chest, as the human stared onwards.

The thought of Papyrus moving onward, in spite of his newfound fear…

… it filled Frisk with determination.

 

 

* * *

 

  

In the dim lighting of the lower offices of the CORE facility, Gaster meandered down the hall, with the Blaster Skull by his side.

He observed his hands. They were flickering, slightly - and there was even a small burn upon one of them, from the energy spears that had grazed him. They were slowly regenerating after the impact. Soon the burn wouldn’t be there at all.

Gaster had almost relished in the fact that he could _feel_ sensations. However, his newfound stability in this realm was causing a few… _setbacks_.

He clenched his hands into fists.

This detour had cost him. He’d been careless in his fascinations.

No more indulging in his curiosity. It had ultimately gotten in the way of his main goal. He would push it aside.

He sighed.

It had been a simple objective. Find Papyrus. Convert him. Add to his arsenal. Sans had unique properties as both a monster and as a Blaster - Gaster had wondered what abilities another converted monster would have possessed.

He’d been counting on him remaining _alone_ , however. The Captain of the Guard had intervened with the process, and the… _human_ had been the one to rouse Papyrus from his trance.

In Gaster's attempt to fight off the captain, he’d realised an almost fatal error. Commandeering a platoon of Gaster Blasters required more focus than he could spare. Four of his weapons had been completely obliterated in the onslaught, and though he’d pocketed their remains during his teleportation, he felt that only one would be functional ever again.

Pausing in his stride, Gaster turned to the Blaster by his side.

In any case, his previous outing had not been a _complete_ failure.

The seeds had been planted. Papyrus had responded well to his concoction, as he had hoped. He shared almost identical physical and magical properties to the person it had been intended for, and it had weaved itself into his bones quite effortlessly.

Now, its properties resided within him. Though Papyrus had been fairly strong-willed and stubborn, he was still susceptible to certain suggestions. 

Gaster hummed. As he'd suspected from his brief observations into this dimension, his brother was obviously a sore spot…

This would complicate things for the odd trio. Papyrus would not be able to fight against Gaster’s will for long.

Which brought up another factor in all this. The trio pursuing him now explicitly knew of his new weapon’s identity. 

He cracked a small smile.

The very thing that stopped their onslaught was _that_ new information. They couldn’t attack Sans. Certainly, they would try to strategise for next time. To figure out a way to reclaim him - Papyrus did care for his brother, after all.

... Yes. In the wake of his lost arsenal... he could _use_ this.

Gaster pondered on what the small group would do to try to reclaim him. Speaking to him? Trying to reason with him? It had certainly grounded Papyrus mid-process.

But Sans…

For a moment, he stared at the Blaster.

Then, after debating for a small moment…

… he released his mental hold on it.

The white rings dissolved. The blue sparked from the depths of its sockets. It began to rattle, chatter, shake. 

It make a wheezing, gasping sound - almost like static.

Gaster observed closely, as its huge, blue pupils darted around, before completely filling up its eye sockets with a bright blue. It didn’t know where it was. Its behaviour was erratic - it knew it was in danger - and yet, it didn’t know what to do about it. It darted around, disoriented.

It didn’t know what to do with _itself_. And after a few moments of aimless, panicked drifting…

…its eyes landed on Gaster.

The scientist gave a small smirk, as the familiar sound of a laser charging up filled the halls. Calmly, he rose a hand, placing it on the creature’s head.

And as suddenly as they had left, the white rings returned. The chattering stopped. The shivering ceased, and it hung in the air, once more.

It stopped breathing.

The reclaiming process had become a lot quicker, now that he’d had a bit more substance in this world. Still, it wasn't enough.

Gaster linked his fingers together. The trio would be in pursuit, no matter how inconspicuous he’d be. They'd try to get in the way - that was the price of collecting such a high-profile tool, he supposed.

Direct confrontation alone would not do. He needed to think outside the box… take things from another angle.

He had a few new factors in play.

He just needed to utilise them _properly._


	6. A Scream

Hotland was currently quite dim.

Deep orange hues radiated upwards with the heat of the magma. The constant hissing, clanking and whirring of the machines was replaced by quiet gurgling of the lava far below.

The lighting that had illuminated the paths through the cavern was gone, but their visibility (the light provided by the magma) was adequate enough to navigate. Still, as Undyne, Papyrus and Frisk wandered over the precarious wooden bridge, the royal captain could see that finding their way around the place would take a while.

However, their first real obstacle came about when they reached the L1 lift.

“YOU KNOW, IN RETROSPECT, I SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS BECOMING A PROBLEM!” Papyrus said, tilting his head thoughtfully as Undyne repeatedly tapped the button to the point where cracks were beginning to appear. “WITH THE MAIN POWER DEACTIVATED AND ALL.”

“… there’s no emergency power?” Frisk asked, still sitting atop Papyrus’ shoulders.

Undyne grimaced. She summoned a paper cup from her inventory, one she had grabbed from the water cooler on her way into Hotland, and took a swig. It was warm (cooled down compared to when she’d first come across it), but she wasn’t about to complain any kind of hydration at this point.

She studied the lift, its silver metal gleaming orange under the magma’s glow. “Looks like it stopped working after CORE was deactivated.”

“WELL, OF COURSE!” Papyrus quipped, lowering his head a little when he realised his skull-spikes were quite close to his passenger’s face. “BUT HOW WOULD EVERYONE HAVE GOTTEN UP TO THE CASTLE?”

“Well, Alphys said that there would be energy reserves _after_ the CORE was deactivated.” She pointed out. “Like, two hours. When most of the population got out, I think that’s when they sent her there to shut the CORE off. After all that, it woulda taken two hours to completely conk out.”

Undyne crushed the paper cup in her hand, and its remains inexplicably evaporated as she grimaced. “Of course, they shoulda thought about anyone unexpectedly left down here??? But I guess they expected people to just _call_ ‘em. _Freaking cellphones_.”

She turned to Frisk, dropping the scarily frustrated expression from her face. “Uh, speaking of - any luck calling Toriel?”

The human shook their head (They were free of their cape and scarf now, donning only their shirt. They’d left them at the entrance to Hotland). “I’ve been calling every time something comes up.” Frisk unearthed their phone from their pocket. “But every time I do, I just get static.”

They flipped it open. “I talk, anyway. I was thinking… maybe we just can’t hear the other side?”

There was a brief pause.

“TO ANYBODY WHO’S LISTENING!” Papyrus turned his head to face the receiver, and Frisk positioned the cellphone next to his head. “WOULD SOMEONE MAYBE THINK ABOUT REACTIVATING THE CORE? OR AT LEAST THE ‘L’ FOR ‘LINGUINE’ LIFT?”

“‘Linguine?’” Undyne asked, incredulously. “The L stands for L-evator, Papyrus! I thought we established this???” 

Frisk withdrew the phone back to their own ear.

“They mean the L1 lift.” They said, a little flatly.

The trio watched the lift expectantly. After about ten seconds, Undyne threw her hands up in the air.

“Okay, screw this. Let’s CLIMB this sucker!”

Frisk blinked. “C-Climb? How? The metal’s too hot for us to hold onto.”

“What?! Hell no, we’re not touching that stuff.” Undyne made a face. “Me and scalding-hot metal don’t mix, Frisk. You got front-seat tickets to that little ordeal!” She gestured to her side.

Several energy spears suddenly materialised in the air. The Royal Captain concentrated on their arrangement, as they all spiralled around the lift’s structure, all points facing it.

Then, with a decisive swing of her hand, they all effortlessly surged inward, piercing into the surface of the steel.

She turned to face Frisk and Papyrus, who were staring at the makeshift staircase in awe.

“ALRIGHT, NERDS. Let’s get a move on. These aren’t gonna last forever!”

She began leaping up each spear-step with practiced balance and coordination.

It had taken her a while to figure out exactly how much force needed to be applied to each throw, but Undyne had figured out how to utilise her spears to get around the upper caverns of Waterfall - it saved time, allowed her to skip ahead of targets, and almost nobody could see her coming.

She heard Papyrus leaping after her, leaping gracefully from spear to spear as he usually did. However, about halfway up the steps, she also heard a panicked yelp from both him and Frisk. Undyne spun on the spot, to suddenly see Frisk floating in midair before her, their soul pinged BLUE by Papyrus.

The skeleton was currently hanging by his claws from one of her spear steps, keeping all of his focus on Frisk.

Undyne blinked. “Uh, Papyrus? You _tripped_?”

Papyrus pulled himself up effortlessly. “TRIP? ME? I _NEVER_ TRIP!” He claimed, planting his feet back onto the spear, before stumbling a little, off-balance. “AT LEAST, MOST OF THE TIME.”

He carefully lowered Frisk back onto his shoulders, keeping a hand on the steel surface of the elevator structure for support. The human cringed, but the scalding heat of the steel didn’t seem to bother the skeleton at all.

“I THINK IT’S MY FEET.” He said, a bit disgruntled. “THEY’RE NOT WORKING THE WAY THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO.”

Undyne frowned. Now this Gaster guy was messing with her friend’s coordination?

“Can you make it the rest of the way up?” Frisk asked, making sure they were holding on tightly enough.

“OF COURSE!” Papyrus beamed. “JUST, ER… BE PREPARED! FOR ANYTHING!”

Frisk blinked. “Like falling?”

“I NEVER SAID THAT!” Papyrus continued leaping from spear to spear, focusing hard on his foot placements. “JUST BE PREPARED FOR STUFF IN GENERAL, FRISK!”

The human giggled. “Okay!”

It didn’t take long for them to reach the third level of Hotland. Several spider webs, remnants of Muffet’s Spider Bake sale, were present. The lighting was still quite prevalent up here, and even the dull shine of gears could be seen on the cavern walls - gone still from lack of power.

Frisk and Papyrus had chatted the entire way, keeping their spirits up. Undyne got the feeling that Frisk was trying to keep the skeleton focused on moving forward.

She frowned.

As long as he was in good spirits. It was sorta hard to keep Papyrus down.

Undyne gave a quiet sigh.

... Damn it.

A couple of years ago, when the skeleton had first shown up at her house at 4am, it had been clear from the get-go that Papyrus was not to type to easily give up. But as the days of training had gone on, it was also clear that Papyrus was not the type to be Royal Guard material.

He could fight well. He was agile, talented, in complete control of his abilities. He was a natural-born defender. 

But he was not a destroyer.

Her eye narrowed.

The fact that some asshole had tried to change Papyrus into something he _wasn't..._ really got under her skin.

Undyne glanced up, seeing the approaching upper ledge.

It wasn't like she was overlooking Sans, however. The older skeleton had been met with an awful fate, and she didn’t make light of that. Aside from being one of her sentries, Sans remained a bit of a mystery to her, however. But like Papyrus, she would keep believing that there would be a way to save him - and if there wasn’t, she would _find_ a damn way.

Gaster didn’t own him.

The asshole didn’t own _anyone_. Whoever he was. And she wouldn’t stop until everyone was safe from his antics.

It wasn’t until the trio were safely back on rocky ground that she dismissed her energy spears. She crossed her arms thoughtfully.

"Hey, Frisk... mind giving the phone another shot?"

The human perked up from Papyrus' shoulders. "I-I can try! Maybe the reception's better, here!"

Undyne raised a hand. "Wait... uh..."

Her gaze softened a little. In light of the recent danger, someone had come to mind.

"...could you try giving Alphys a ring?”

She glanced aside. "I mean, her phone's tricked out with all those awesome upgrades, so - maybe it'll work better???"

Damn. That came out a little wimpier than she’d been hoping. But there were no jeers, this time.

"AN EXCELLENT POINT!" Papyrus beamed. Frisk instantly whipped out their phone and dialled the number, motioning to be placed back on the ground by the suddenly hesitant skeleton.

They held the phone to their ear, blinking when there seemed to be an absence of static. Undyne and Papyrus were focused on Frisk, fingers crossed.

“Uh, hello? Are you there, Alphys?”

Something muffled seeped through the speaker. However, Frisk's expression grew startled.

The captain tensed.

No static. But the voice that had sounded was far too low to belong to the lizard monster.

Frisk looked up at Undyne directly, swallowing.

“Who’s this?”

Before the voice on the other end could respond, Frisk suddenly found themselves no longer holding a phone. Their hand closed experimentally on the space it had left.

“Alright, LISTEN UP, PUNK.” Undyne sneered into the receiver. “You have _ten_ seconds to tell me what the hell you’ve done with Alphys!”

The captain had swiped the phone in a blink, and was now gripping it at a concerning force. Frisk reached back out towards the phone nervously, almost praying for its safety.

**“… I haven’t done a thing.”**

The captain blinked. The voice was deadpan. Detached. 

**“I’m not sure I could if I tried.”**

Undyne frowned. This voice didn’t sound at all like the man who’d been behind this whole ordeal, but the way he spoke - the strange, grainy, kind-of-screechy tones - was very similar to that of the doctor.

She heard the phone creak as she gripped its casing tightly.

“Where the _hell_ is Alphys? This is her PHONE. I swear, if you’re working with _Gaster_ , I’ll - ”

“ **Gaster?”**

Something seemed to distract Papyrus. He'd spun on the spot, his attention elsewhere. She ignored it, focusing on the phone call.

**“… Gaster. You’re talking about Doctor W.D. Gaster, right?”**

Undyne glared at the phone. “Did I stutter?!”

 **“No. You’re fine.”** The voice paused again. **“I don’t know where Alphys is. I can say with certainty that she isn’t with me.”**

The captain's eye grew wide.

"... then where the hell _is_ she?"

“UH, UNDYNE?”

There was a low, electronic whine. The captain glanced over to Papyrus, whose eyes were fixed on something to the right of the elevator.

 “DO YOU THINK YOU CAN PUT THEM ON HOLD, FOR NOW?” He asked, warily.

Undyne followed his gaze. There was a figure beside the metal structure, steadily glitching into existence. Grey blocks of energy stuttered around on the spot, slowly forming into a faded being. Initially thinking that it was Gaster itself, the captain managed to relax slightly when the being’s features came into view.

It was a strange, grey monster - a little humanlike in shape. Their expression was blank, their gaze fixed upon her, then Frisk, and finally settling on Papyrus.

 **“I get it.”** The voice from the speaker said, and Undyne noticed his lips moving exactly with the words she heard. **“I guess he figured out a way to leave.”**

Her eye flicked to the phone. Then back at him.

Then, she snarled.

“… what’s your deal?! You’re interrupting my _signal!”_

Geeze. She'd freaked out over Alphys for nothing.

... Right?

 **“Don’t mean to.”** His voice was flat. **“Stuff like this doesn’t usually happen.”**

Cautiously, without taking her eye off the being, Undyne handed the phone back to Frisk.

“You know how to put it on speaker?”

The human, reflexively about to stash the phone away, complied in slight confusion with Papyrus hovering nearby, curiously.

**“I guess that means I don’t have a lot of time.”**

The voice startled the duo.

Undyne’s gaze bore into the figure, looking for some sign or tell of nerves. But, almost unsettlingly, there was absolutely nothing.

“Alright, _start talking_.” She said, firmly. “Who are you and what do you know about Gaster?”

The being stared at Papyrus for a few more moments, before turning his head back towards Undyne. Still wide-eyed. Still expressionless.

**“Doctor Gaster was the Royal Scientist before Alphys. Not like anyone really remembers.”**

Papyrus blinked in alarm, suddenly looking thoughtful.

“THE… ROYAL SCIENTIST?”

His expression fell. “I GUESS THAT EXPLAINS THE VIAL.” He said, quietly. “VERY, ER… SCIENCE-Y.”

Undyne straightened, wide-eyed. She hadn’t heard anything about a scientist before Alphys. Sure, she’d certainly known that there had _been_ a previous Royal Scientist (Alphys hadn’t been in charge from the beginning, after all) but there was no face or… name to the title.

She frowned. “Not like I’ve ever really paid attention to a whole lot of our history and other nerdy crap but - was Gaster _really_ in charge? If he really was a Royal Scientist, why haven’t I heard about this t’il now?”

The being gave a sigh. His body didn’t move with it, nor did his expression change at all. He gave a long, plainfaced sharp sigh.

**“Like I said. Nobody remembers.”**

He gave a slow, deliberate blink.

**“My name’s Sprig. I was a part of his team.”**

There was a short silence, as the trio tensed. Undyne felt the energy of her spears crackle around her clenched fist.

“So, you’re working with him?” She seethed. “You better explain what the hell’s going on, _punk_.”

There was the sound of a buzz, and Papyrus - formerly standing tall - flinched back, shoulders hunched in recognition of the sound. 

An electronic whine echoed throughout the caverns. Frisk grabbed Papyrus’ wrist, glancing around.

**“I think I’m out of time.”**

Sprig’s eyes flicked over to Papyrus, who stared back, his eyes beginning to flicker orange once more.

**“… I'm sorry this happened to you, kid."**

Undyne glanced over at the skeleton, her gaze darting between her friend and the grey monster. Papyrus simply appeared confused at the statement.

But Sprig remained stonefaced.

**"Say hello to Sans for me.”**

A buzz. A crackle.

And suddenly, a familiar disembodied hand surged out from Sprig’s chest, clenching into a fist. Small rays of purple light were seen, shining through the cracks of its fingers. The impact seemed to ripple outwards from his sternum. His entire form flickered and buzzed on the spot, fading slightly.

For the first time since he’d appeared, Sprig’s expression displayed emotion. In this case, irritation.

 **“Good talk, doc.”** He said, flatly.

Sprig fizzed out of existence, revealing Gaster slowly bringing his fist back in towards him, focusing intently on the purple spark within it.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 Papyrus didn’t feel like he could move.

He’d always been able to move, no matter how alarmed or scared he’d felt. In fact, being afraid usually helped make him move that much faster.

But not now.

It had been quite a horrifying sight. Their new acquaintance, Sprig, had vanished into nothingness (in a very noncommittal sort of way, as if it was merely an inconvenience).

Not to mention, he seemed to... _know_ Papyrus.

If it had been any regular monster, Papyrus would have been thrilled that he was known to those in far-off places.

However, the last strange, glitch-y monster that had outright recognised him... hadn’t been the friendliest fellow.

In fact, as he saw Gaster rise up to his full height and plunge the purple spark of energy into his own chest, Papyrus was becoming less and less sure on whether he was a monster at all.

Undyne had stepped protectively in front of the skeleton. He summoned his blue attack to his side, focusing on its grip when it sparked and stuttered out of existence, briefly. In turn, he stepped in front of Frisk.

There was no time to be afraid. They had things to do!

The purple energy within Gaster radiated outward. The dark, shapeless mass that served as his body suddenly seemed to develop some sort of structure. The wispiness concentrated into the shape of two legs, still crawling with black smoke, but distinctly connecting with the ground. His upper body remained vaguely indistinct, though black and wispy tendrils from his torso followed his disembodied hands, as if entertaining the thought of becoming arms.

**_Now there’s an improvement._ **

Papyrus suddenly felt a small strain in his bones. Gaster’s voice sounded different. There was less of a buzz, less of that kind of noise that their television made when their reception was weak. It was stronger. More direct…

… The ‘haze’ loomed over his mind, but Papyrus shook his head, trying to ignore it.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO SPRIG?” He asked, nervously. “YOU DIDN’T HURT HIM, DID YOU?”

Gaster’s eyes fell on him, and he blinked back a headache.

**_… You don’t need to worry about his pain. I daresay he scarcely existed enough to feel anything, really._ **

He linked his fingers together, glancing at Frisk. **_I’d rather get right to business and get you three out of the way, if that’s alright with you._**

Two glowing, white rings appeared in the shadows behind the doctor. The air suddenly grew a lot heavier.

Undyne frowned, as a single Blaster Skull came into proper view above Gaster.

“…what’s the deal? You just brought one?”

Gaster tilted his head, smiling that same, unnerving smile he had when he’d held that purple vial before Papyrus. He held up a hand, gesturing slightly.

The white rings flickered back to blue.

In that moment, Undyne nearly snapped her energy spear. Frisk stood tall, focusing hard on the doctor.

And Papyrus’ heart sank.

 ** _…It appears this one is all I need._** Gaster said, flicking his hand again and causing the skull’s eyes to resume their default white stare. His own expression became blank. 

**_Do take care not to smash it so carelessly._ **

The whine of a charging laser signalled the start of the fight. The trio dodged out of the laser fire as it illuminated the dimness of the cavern with a bright blue light. Papyrus glanced over his shoulder to check on Frisk, but they had quite skilfully weaved out of the way of any stray rock debris that sprayed upwards from the ground.

Undyne had gone straight for Gaster. He teleported out of reach with Sans, floating in midair, and when the captain prepared to hurl a spear straight for the doctor, the Blaster Skull whipped around in front of him as a shield.

Papyrus flinched.

Undyne snarled.

“Congratulations, asshole.” She said, dismissing her spear. “You’re even _more_ of a coward than I thought!”

Papyrus looked on as Undyne dodged out of the way of another laser blast, flipping up atop the skull to face Gaster. Then, the skeleton darted forward.

As Undyne summoned another spear, its point facing Gaster’s face, his hand reached out to Sans, and suddenly the Blaster vanished from beneath her. Undyne landed in a crouch as Gaster reappeared behind her, hovering in midair.

From beside him, Sans was already charging up another laser attack.

His focus on Undyne, the doctor did not see a glowing blue bone suddenly swipe across his form.

PING-G-G

The fire died in the Blaster’s maw.

Papyrus, perched upon a floating bone, watched stunned as the Doctor’s soul suddenly came into view, coloured BLUE.

Only… it didn’t really look like a soul.

“WHAT THE HECK!?”

Flickering visibly around Gaster’s chest was something fragmented. It did _resemble_ a soul, and a monster’s one at that.

There were just so many chunks _missing_ from it.

The BLUE effect also seemed to be taking a toll on Gaster himself. His form seemed to be flickering and convulsing - half of his materialised form was remaining in place. The other half was scattering and stuttering about him in black, square particles trying to reach the ground.

His white oval face slowly slid around the black mass that was his body to face Papyrus. His expression was placid, his violet-lit pupils shrinking into pinpricks.

**_Don’t. Do that._ **

A hand came out of nowhere, slamming Papyrus in the centre of the forehead.

For a few brief, horrible moments, Papyrus didn’t know who he was or what he was doing. No name. No thoughts.

A peaceful nothingness had overtaken him.

There was a flicker of blue light. There was a buzz, a crackle -

\- and then a scream of rage, and a second, stuttery PING sounding throughout the caverns.

He felt the hand leave his skull. His mind blank, Papyrus fell back as his perch dissolved and he landed hard on the rocky floor.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Frisk charged forward, terrified.

They’d seen the white-ringed stare on Papyrus, with Gaster’s hand on his forehead, and another on Sans’.

There had been the telltale crackle of energy, signalling the start of a teleport -

\- and then Undyne had intervened, leaping up and swinging on Sans’ horns, turning the doctor’s strange and malformed soul GREEN with a swipe of her spear. The doctor had frozen in place, and then completely plummeted to the ground in a crouch, with something barely resembling a shattered shield (frayed with chunks missing around the edges) materialising on one of his hands.

The rest of his hands seemed to be frozen in place, stuttering around and flickering wildly.

His gaze was fixed on the fallen Papyrus, who was struggling to rise.

“If you try that again, you’re answering to me.” Undyne said, her voice low and dangerous.

She stood to his left, focusing all of her energy on keeping him still. Sweat beaded on her forehead, her teeth gritting under the strain.

“Damn it… what the hell _are_ you? I can barely keep this up!”

Her eyes rose to Frisk, who had reached Papyrus and was now helping him sit up. He was trembling, and Frisk realised that they could hear his bones creaking the slightest bit.

Gaster blinked. **_It’s almost impossible to stop a chain reaction._** He said, offhandedly.

Undyne’s eye grew wide in comprehension.

“Frisk! Get Papyrus, and get him the hell _out_ of here!”

The human nodded, trying to get Papyrus back on his feet. Shakily, he complied, but the creaking was getting louder, the orange in his eyes flickering wildly. He planted his feet on the ground the moment Frisk tried to pull him away. His stare remained fixed behind Gaster.

“ _WAIT_ …SANS… WHAT ABOUT SANS…?”

Suddenly alarmed, Frisk turned to the Blaster skull hovering in the air. It had remained still since Gaster had been hit with the GREEN effect.

Its eyes were wildly flickering blue, now - and Frisk realized that Gaster no longer had any hands on him.

For a moment, Frisk’s heart sang with excitement.

Gaster was frozen. He couldn’t touch him!

Sans was _free_!

But as the blue energy continued to flicker wildly, and wild raspy gasps began to sound from the Blaster skull, Frisk's excitement faded. The beginnings of a laser charge echoed through the caverns. Sans seemed to aim blindly, suddenly shooting wildly at the cavern walls, damaging the gears and charring the rocks.

It was when one of those stray shots skimmed straight past them that Frisk realized something was terribly wrong.

Sans’ glowing pupils filled up his eyesockets, engulfing them completely in a bright, blinding blue.

A quiet, nervous chuckle emitted from Gaster, and with effort, he rotated his shield around to face his former weapon.

**_It appears that was unwise, captain._ **

Undyne, still focusing on keeping the GREEN effect, slowly rotated around Gaster so she, too, was behind his shield. Her eye was wide in shock, as glowing energy formed beneath the Blaster skull, and shaped into a ribcage, front legs, with claws that dug almost desperately into the ground.

Frisk watched on as the rest of Sans’ beastly body formed back into existence, and he continued to gasp raspily, his eyes blown wide and alight with blue flames. Blue energy seeped out of his mouth like smoke.

“SANS!?” Papyrus cried. “SANS, ARE YOU ALRIGHT? CAN YOU HEAR ME?!”

There was nothing.

No response. No indication that Sans could hear him, see him or recognise him. His sharp teeth ground against each other. His features were warped and twisted. His eyes blazed, glancing around in anger and fear.

Frisk drew in a shaky breath.

Sans was _free_.

But he wasn’t _here_.

 ** _I cannot properly command him, like this._**  Gaster whispered, observantly. _**I am not... present enough. **_

"The hell do you _mean?"_ Undyne whispered, shakily. The strain was getting to her.

Gaster shrugged. **_T_ _ry_** ** _to reclaim him on your own, if you can._**  He said, offhandedly. ** _Though,_** ** _h_** ** _e’s been rattled around enough as it is._**

The creature that had once been Sans suddenly spun to face the doctor, as if aware of his presence.

He let out a loud, beastly, terrifying roar, and Gaster smiled back at him as light began to gather in the creature’s maw.

 **_After all… I was the only thing keeping him_ ** **_calm_** ** _._ **

Frisk let out a cry as Sans unleashed a rather fiery laser blast upon both Gaster and Undyne.

However, despite the sheer force of the impact, and the seemingly fragmented nature of the shield that had formed from the GREEN attack, the captain was intact, focusing all her energy on keeping up the spell.

Her face was fixed into a strained grimace, sweat beading her forehead.

“UNDYNE!” Papyrus cried, attempting to move forward. “Y-YOU NEED TO HANG IN THERE! I’LL -“

Frisk heard a snap, and Papyrus buckled to the ground once more. Spikes were beginning to force their way out of his vertebrae, and the human grabbed at his arm, beginning to pull him away from the fight.

“Frisk… get him the hell out of here!” Undyne spoke through gritted teeth. “I’ll catch up! I’ll keep Gaster here and - “

Another whine. Another roar. Another laser blast illuminated the caverns. Frisk and Papyrus watched in horror as Sans circled them as he fired an endless stream of light and fire. Gaster, still grinning at the sight, rotated the shield accordingly and Undyne used all of her strength to maintain their defenses. The laser fire evaporated, and the captain’s head dropped from over-exertion.

“Th-think… I preferred you… as a lazy ass, Sans…” She gasped, as the creature eyed them both, snarling in an unsatisfied manner as he began to stalk in the other direction.

 **You cannot keep this up, captain. We both know this.** Gaster said, quietly. **At this rate… I am the only person capable of keeping him in check.**

His violet eyes flicked to Undyne, her head still low.

**Would you much rather burn in laser fire than let me calm him down? I offer the only solution that leaves us _all_ unharmed.**

The captain, exhausted, gave him a bold, sharp smile from underneath her bangs.

“Let me guess. That’s when you take Sans AND Papyrus, and go on your merry little way?”

Her eye glowed from the shadows of her face.

“ _No_. I know your deal, doc. The _last_ thing I’m gonna let you do is take away my friends and use them in your sick, t _wisted, l_ _ittle_ ** _plan._** ”

Her eye blazed in anger.

“You’ve already harmed Sans. You’ve done _plenty_ of harm. The last thing I want is for you to get _away_ with it!”

She stared over at Frisk and Papyrus, who both seemed hesitant to leave. She could see the barest amount of changes start to crawl through her friend, and she gained a second wind.

“HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF?!” She roared. “You two get OUT of here!”

The human hesitated. They didn’t want to leave Undyne, or Sans. But if Papyrus changed here and now…

… and if Gaster managed to free himself…

Their hand closed around Papyrus’ wrist, and they began pulling him away from the scene.

“F-FRISK! NO!! W-WAIT!”

The skeleton dug his claws into the ground, and Frisk turned to face him. His visage was still that of Papyrus, but the human could tell from the strain on his face that he was having trouble staying focused.

“Papyrus…”

They grasped his wrist as his gaze slid off of their face in fatigue.

“… i-is it getting ‘hazy?’” They asked, fear spiking within them.

The skeleton shook his head, blinking. “A… A LITTLE.” His gaze regained its firmness, and he stared down at Frisk.

“WE HAVE TO H-HELP THEM… WE CAN’T… LEAVE THEM BEHIND…!”

A loud snap sounded, and Papyrus fell to one knee, a crack travelling up between his eyes from his nasal hole.

Frisk grabbed both his wrists.

“I don’t wanna leave either, Papyrus!” They cried. “But you’re getting worse! And you promised Undyne! You told her that you’d pull out of the mission if you were gonna jeopardise it!”

“I-I…”

He gritted his teeth, head bowed.

“… I-I NEVER SAID… I WOULD _LEAVE_ …”

The human blinked at his response. Papyrus’ eyes were shut, sweat beading on his skull.

“I SAID… I SAID I WOULDN’T… BE A DANGER…” He said firmly, as if to remind himself most of all.

Frisk drew in a breath.

…That had been his exact wording, hadn’t it? Papyrus had _no_ intention of leaving his friend or his brother behind.

But could he really keep that promise?

“FR… ISK…”

A flicker or orange caught the child’s eye, and they looked up at Papyrus’ face - much less Papyrus-looking than usual. His expression seemed strained, like he was trying to focus hard on the human, but couldn’t quite see what was happening in front of him.

His eyes fell onto Frisk, almost desperate.

“I’M… _COUNTING ON YOU_ … OKAY?”

Fear spiked in Frisk’s chest, but they released Papyrus’ wrists. It was too late. They weren’t sure what would happen next. They weren’t sure what the skeleton would do.

They weren’t even sure if he’d still _be_ there…

A loud crack sounded, and Papyrus collapsed to his hands and knees. Orange energy flickered around him, and his form responded in kind. Ghastly, pointed spikes ripped through his vertebrae. Claws tore through his gloves, completely obliterating them, this time.

Frisk stepped back in fear, then clenched their fists, recounting the strategy that the three of them had made, mere hours ago.

… if Papyrus wasn’t there, then…

… Frisk just needed to make sure he came _back_.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Papyrus gritted his sharpening teeth, trying to hold onto his thoughts. The haze was seeping back into his mind, but he held fast. He couldn’t let himself be tired. He couldn’t let himself lose hope! 

… But the more he changed, the more he began to lose sight of what he was doing in the first place.

 Any memory that surfaced was suddenly snatched away by an encroaching wave of panic. Papyrus felt their absence - he knew something was missing, and that gaping hole, that rolling haze, was only growing larger.

He reached for his thoughts again, in terror. He needed to hold on to something! Anything!

He couldn’t forget everything! Not like last time!  _Not like this, not now_ _!_

Pain bloomed down his back, and he felt a whiplike tail snake out from his spine.

He’d promised Undyne he wouldn’t be a danger! _He wouldn’t jeopardise the mission!_

His head screamed in pain as the crack between his eyes continued to travel upward.

He’d promised Undyne!

He’d promised Undy… Un…

h e ‘d  p r o m i s e d…

_…_

 

 

* * *

 

 

It was after a third laser blast that Sans suddenly stopped his assault, and Undyne took in a deep breath. Her focus was almost spent, and she could almost feel the shield flicker before her. The noises around her felt muffled, but she struggled to stay awake.

_… damnit. Why’d it have to be Hotland?_

She was snapped out of her trance by a distant scream, and her gaze shot upwards, startled.

Her heart sank.

Only a mere twenty feet away, Papyrus knelt on the ground, his side facing them. His trembling form was surrounded by orange, crackling energy. His features were shifting rapidly, the changes coming in a surge. He let out another cry, his eyes wide and glowing entirely orange as his armour and gloves and boots all seemed to disintegrate off him as he grew.

Papyrus was disappearing. The friendly skeleton she’d known was steadily being replaced by a terrifying beast.

Frisk was slowly backing away from him, initially fearful. Then, their expression set into one of determination, and they suddenly rushed forward to Papyrus’ bowed head. Still caught in the painful throes of his change, the skeleton didn’t seem to notice the human child clambering up on his skull and perching onto the back of his neck.

“… Damnit.” Undyne breathed. She wanted to intervene. She wanted to punch this asshole in the face, knock him out and go help - but this cheating bastard was only barely corporeal - and now Papyrus was in the same boat as Sans.

Her friend was now one mere hand-touch away from becoming a mindless weapon, himself.

Bracing herself for another laser blast, Undyne initially felt relieved when there appeared to be some kind of ceasefire.

Her relief soon turned to panic as she realized that Sans’ attention had been taken by Papyrus’ transformation. Growling under his breath, eyes fiercely fixed upon the new arrival, he slowly turned away from her and Gaster and began to approach the creature, who was now slowly rising to his feet.

Undyne swallowed dryly. 

Papyrus no longer looked like Papyrus. 

His friendly visage was gone, ripped and torn away. His eyes slowly peeled open, alight with orange - no sign of his usual black eye sockets.

They rose to meet the approaching creature.

 ** _I suppose Sans no longer perceives us as the main threat._** Gaster observed. **_Do you still see no reason to intervene?_**

Undyne took in a deep breath, keeping her focus on the spell.

If there was one thing she’d had to learn over the years, it was to make sure to maintain her trust and belief in her soldiers, and _their_ trust in _her_. Undyne couldn’t let Gaster go free, or both Sans and Papyrus would be stolen away, possibly for good.

… and Frisk… Tiny, wimpy, but _unbelievably_ determined Frisk…

She saw the human grasp the horns on Papyrus’ head tightly, peering through them and taking a deep breath in preparation as Sans approached.

Right now, she had to trust that Frisk would snap Papyrus out of his haze.

… and that there was still something left of Papyrus to reach out _to_. 


	7. A Clash

_Pain_.

There was a lot of pain. Noise.

It was hot. The ground burned beneath him.

Something was screaming. 

Something moved.

… he shook himself out, trying to rid himself of the fatigue he felt. 

Where was he? What had happened?

His surroundings blurred, a swirl of oranges and deep reds. There was a lot of noise. Echoes. He wasn’t sure where the sounds were coming from, even when everything stopped blurring into each other. 

For a moment, he tensed, unsure of what to do or how to act. His thoughts were muddled. Out of reach. 

Hazy.

What was he doing here?

A threatening shriek sounded - and bright streak of blue cut through the red of his surroundings. His eyes fixed on it, jolted out of his trance. He dismissed whatever thoughts he had left.

There were nothing in his mind, now. Just instinct. 

He dodged. 

He felt the burning of the offending attack skim past his shoulder. Blue light and fire in a beam. It hit something far away, but his eyes were trained on the shooter.

It approached him, the stark, bright blue of its eyes trained on him from the darkness. Its jagged teeth were clenched together in a fearsome snarl. Its head was lowered, its skeletal body cautiously tense, continuing to stalk forward.

A low growl rumbled in his throat, as he fully turned to face it.

It was something that looked like… himself. He was aware enough to know that he shared an appearance with this creature. He was also large, made of bones. He also had claws.

But there was no comfort to be found in that. Not in something that could harm him. There was nothing in that creature’s stance that was welcoming.

_There was nothing there._

This creature was threatening him. He wasn’t safe here. The distant echoes, the darkness, the reds and oranges, the scalding heat of the ground he stood upon…

… none of it felt safe. 

He stood tall, giving a loud and terrifying roar that echoed throughout the darkness. 

He couldn’t let the creature know that, though. Needed to be strong.

Couldn’t let it know how afraid he was. 

Or else it would be over.

His full attention was placed on the creature, as he himself began to feel the burn of laser fire in his throat. Instinct screamed at him, drowning everything else out. Only focusing on what was necessary.

Threat.

Danger.

He needed to destroy the creature. He needed it to go away.

Or else he would be burned _back_. _He’d_ be destroyed.

Rays of orange light trickled through the gaps in his teeth.

_Eliminate it._

Then he would be _safe…_

**_“NO!!”_ **

A cry. Something seemed to cry out from behind his skull, distracting him from his mental processes. He blinked, as the creature charged forward with a snarl. Blue light accumulated in its mouth, as it gathered the energy for another blast.   
****

As if he’d done it a million times before, he swerved out of the way, snapping at the offender. His opponent turned his head and unleashed the blast at his feet, and he leapt up out of range, his agile form allowing him to leap over the creature completely. He landed and spun to face it.

This was perfect. This was ideal. His enemy was powerful with its attacks. But his enemy was too slow. Even a little smaller than him. 

The creature would break easy ~~_(He was fragile after all)._~~

**_“PAPYRUS, NO! YOU PROMISED!!”_ **

Another cry from behind his skull stopped him in his tracks.  
****

What was that?

He looked around in confusion. Where had that come from?

… 'Promised?’

What was a promise?

Pain suddenly struck across his face in his hesitation. The creature had landed a blow with a claw, and caused him to stumble. The creature lunged again, this time at his side, but he lashed out with his tail, hitting the creature aside in mid leap. It flew towards the edge of the ground (platform?) they fought upon, but it rolled and struck out its claws against the ground, anchoring itself to the ground as one of its back legs precariously slipped over the edge. 

Its rage renewed, the creature charged at him again.

He shook himself out.

No more distractions. No more thinking. He’d almost been killed. ~~_(But what was a promise?)_~~

 _Danger_. He was in danger… 

He swerved out of the way of a biting attack, giving another threatening roar to make his foe step back. He charged forward, butting his skull hard against the creature’s sternum and shoving it off of its feet. It landed hard on its side, trying to scramble back to its feet.

Laser fire burned in his throat, and he focused on charging it as quickly as possible. No more of this. He wanted to be safe, now. He needed to be safe.

**_“PAPYRUS! SANS!”_ **

More words. More shouts that meant nothing. ~~_(What was wrong? Why was this wrong?)_~~

Something was wrong with him. Was he sick? The fire was dying in his chest. He wasn’t tearing, wasn’t ripping - wasn’t burning his opponent. He wasn’t fighting back, just because of some strange little words.

The other creature rose to its feet, a little disoriented from the impact. 

He wouldn’t destroy this beast, even when his life was in danger. What was he doing?

He bowed his head, snarling defensively at his opponent. 

_… what was he doing?_

His eyes widened in confusion. 

There was another voice, now. It was quiet. It was tired, small. But it was there, and it whispered… it _thought_.

It was coming from inside his skull. It was interrupting his instincts with more strange little words that made no sense.

Yes, he’d promised. He knew what a promise was.

_… he’d promised he wouldn't be a danger._

Noting his stillness, the other beast began to circle him, glowing blue eyes trained on him. They were piercing and frightening, flicking about, searching for a weak spot. He slowly turned on the spot to remain face-to-face with the creature.

But this promise made no sense. It made no sense to not fight back. Had to protect himself. Had to be _safe_.

And yet, something kept speaking out from inside his mind, growing louder in alarm. He’d _promised_. ( _He’d promised a good friend, too!_ )

He shook his head, trying to silence his thoughts.

 _He’d promised not to hurt anyone._ He didn’t break promises.

White flickered in his eyes.

That wasn't what he did. That wasn’t _him_!

A shriek sounded, and suddenly he was thrown off of his feet, hurtling backward. He collided hard with a tall, silver structure, nearly half his body slipping off the edge of the platform. He scrambled back up onto safe ground in a mad panic. His thought processes screeched to a halt in favour of overwhelming fear, the orange in his eyes blazing brightly.

Wanted to bite. 

Wanted to claw. 

Wanted to _tear_ needed safety needed safety _needed to be safe._

He lunged at his opponent, claws outstretched. The beast rose up on its back legs in response. It blocked his claws from coming down on it with its own, summoning the strength to keep him at bay. Claw-to-claw, they snarled at each other. For a moment, they were deadlocked, trying to overcome the other with mere strength alone.

He wanted to _burn it._

He needed to burn the creature now. He could hear the charge of the other beast’s laser, see the light particles forming in his maw.

He needed to use his own laser - _needed to protect himself!_

… why wasn’t he using it?

Why wasn’t he fighting back?

What was he doing?

**_“PAPYRUS! SANS! YOU BOTH HAVE TO STOP!!”_ **

White flickered again in his eyes, and in one jerky motion, he pulled away from the creature’s grasp as the laser fired inches from his shoulder. He landed back down on all fours, suddenly feeling unusually heavy.

 _What was he_ **_doing_** _?!_

The voice inside his head rose in volume. He stumbled back, breathing shakily as he heard it start to shout.

This was _wrong_! He didn’t know why, but this was completely _wrong_!

He was completely defenceless, and the creature wasn’t going to stop attacking. It was slowly stalking forward towards him, and he wasn’t prepared for another attack.

And despite the horrible creature slowly approaching him, with his horrible blue eyes and teeth and warped and twisted skull ( _and it wasn’t right. It wasn’t right! The creature wasn’t meant to look like that!_ ) he dug his claws into the ground, he clenched his jaw shut, because these thoughts weren’t _him,_ none of this was _him!_

It frightened him how he was face to face with something that could kill him, it frightened him being in the face of danger. 

But what frightened him most of all was how badly he wanted to _hurt,_ to lash back out at the creature. 

His eyes remained fixed on the beast, who was preparing another laser attack. He felt something burn in his own throat. Retaliation.

**“ _PAPYRUS! YOU PROMISED UNDYNE!!_ ”**

The burning increased, but something inside him continued to fight against it. The voice coming from behind his skull was screaming, too. 

Two voices with strange words that were now starting to make _sense_.

**_“YOU SAID YOU WOULDN’T!”_ **

 

… he said he wouldn’t.

 

_He’d promised he wouldn’t put anyone in danger._

 

It was important. Too important. There was no doubt in his mind, now. Instinctually, he wanted to lash out, to unleash this laser blast, to end this creature’s life but he _couldn’t._

Why was he doing this? Why had he wanted to hurt another so badly? That wasn’t like him…

He’d only wanted to help.

He took in a deep, shaking breath, extinguishing the flames in his chest. 

He crooned softly, the haze in his mind slowly starting to lift. The blinding orange in his sockets flickered, steadily giving way to white pinpricks of light.

He’d only wanted to _help._ Destroying this creature would not help. That was…

… that was the _last_ thing he wanted to do…

Suddenly, his vision was flooded with the blue light on an oncoming laser, and still riddled with energy, he hurled himself out of its path.

He found himself stumbling clumsily as he landed. He was showered with sparks as the laser hit the silver structure (elevator…?) above him. It crackled and sparked, metal panels swinging free and falling into the magma below.

He wasn’t injured, but his limbs felt… strange. Heavy.

It was as if it wasn’t quite as easy to move or walk like this.

The instinctual knowledge he’d gained was seeping away. His panicked frame of mind was receding into a different kind of awareness, one not meant for this form.

How did his legs work, again?

… wasn’t he meant to only have two?

“Papyrus!”

The outside voice again. He was startled to actually feel the sensation of something small standing on the back of his neck. He hadn’t noticed it at all - his energy had been strictly focused on his opponent the entire time. 

He felt a small hand on his cranium now, and his gaze, having been occupied for the most part, drifted back to its owner to see a small child, leaning into his field of vision. Their voice was hoarse, no doubt from screaming over the battle, but they scrutinised his features, as if searching for something.

“A-are you there? Are you awake?”

A sudden force hit him, and he found himself slammed side-on against the elevator structure by a pair of claws digging into his ribcage. He heard a panicked cry from the child.

The orange light left his eyes, completely.

And Papyrus woke up.

Flooded with panic, he tried to shove the other monster away with a tail and leg, grasping the ground in desperation as the creature continued to push them around the elevator structure, closer to the platform’s edge. He felt his spines creak, heard the piercing sound of them scraping on steel.

No, no, no - they were _here_ \- they were right here!

It was Frisk! Frisk was here and they were small and defenceless and _they were in danger - !_

The memories flooded back as he struggled to push away the other monster. He could feel the panic of his beastly self begin to rise, determined to defend himself, but he suppressed it, holding on almost desperately to his memories ( _because_ ** _that_** _was who he was, he didn’t want to hurt, he’d never wanted to kill!_ ). 

He’d promised Undyne that he wouldn’t be a danger! He wouldn’t fail the mission! What had he done?! 

He felt the grip of small hands holding tightly onto one of his skull horns and felt a mixture of relief and alarm. His friend was alright and responsive, still clinging to the back of his skull, but they were still in danger.

Digging his claws into the ground to anchor himself, he shoved back with all his might, and the beast who had frightened him so stumbled back, giving a low snarl.

Papyrus stared hard at the creature, feeling a mixture of horror and shame.

No. The creature wasn’t an ‘it.’ It wasn’t a mindless ‘creature,’ either, he had a _name_.

He tried to say it. He tried to call out to his brother.

He was startled when all that came out of his mouth was a garbled hiss. 

For the first time that he could remember, Papyrus found himself without a voice. He didn’t know how to enunciate - his mouth, teeth and throat were strange to him.

He couldn’t reach out to Sans at all.

Sans lunged forward, and Papyrus didn’t know how to react with this large, awkward body. He felt himself being slammed back against the elevator structure, felt sharp jaws clamp onto his collar bone and they began to creak under the bite’s force.

He felt the beast inside him try to lash back out and wrestle back control, and all he could do was simply refuse to move, collapsing to the ground as Sans backed off, confused at his lack of a response. He stubbornly refused to do a thing. He felt Frisk climb down into the safety of his ribcage, crying out at Sans to stop.

Papyrus felt his claws bury deep into the rocky ground and he tried as hard as he possibly could to remain still. He was barely holding on, his thoughts were struggling to remain coherent. He was doing all he possibly could to stay focused - to stay as Papyrus _._ In the face of the panic inside him, he could barely focus on anything else.

If he even tried to get up, tried to protect himself…

… he feared that he would lose control once more. 

_He didn’t want to hurt anybody._

Papyrus heard Sans slowly approaching, charred debris crunching underfoot. He heard the whine of a laser charge, and slowly looked up at him, curling in protectively to shield Frisk as best he could.

He gave a low growl, watching his terrifying brother approach with light and fire spilling out of his jaws. Papyrus tried to speak, but the strange sounds that came from his mouth were incomprehensible, even to him.

He curled in tighter around Frisk, facing his brother head-on. He gave another growl, which oddly enough, made some kind of verbal sense to him.

<SANS…> 

The monster continued to approach with deliberation. Papyrus lifted his head, slightly.

_< PLEASE… SANS…>_

He felt fear and anger combine, and though he initially feared another loss of control, he focused hard on his brother’s approach, as Sans’ jaws began to open up slightly wider. His frustration began to build - a frustration that came from _him_. In this strange and scary situation, he’d tapped into something familiar.

 _< …WAKE _ **_UP_ ** _… >_

When he continued his approach, Papyrus lost his temper. He let out a loud and frustrated screech.

 

**< WAKE _UP_ , YOU LAZYBONES!!!>**

 

The next few seconds happened so quickly that Papyrus didn’t have time to process it.

Blue light flooded his vision. The sound of a crack, and a grunt - the sound of Frisk shouting Undyne’s name.

The blue light dimming, to the point where Papyrus could make out the scene before him. The flames were flickering, dying in Sans’ maw, and he’d staggered to the side, reeling from the impact of a weak and fizzling energy spear that had slammed hard into the side of his skull.

He collapsed to the ground, stunned.

Papyrus’ gaze flicked over to a green light out of the corner of his eye, further down the platform.

Undyne had saved him, again.

She was on her knees, her eye blazing still in determination. She’d hurled a spear in desperation, but there was very little of her magical energy left to provide a proper attack. 

And now, there was no energy left at all.

Trembling from exhaustion, and uttering an expletive that would have made Papyrus flinch under any other circumstances, she collapsed to the ground. He cried out to her as she lay still, finally unconscious from her efforts.

The green shield dissolved off of Gaster’s hand.

Papyrus felt a chill as the doctor rose to his feet, with his eyes on the collapsed Sans. His brother had not moved since the impact.

Papyrus glanced back and forth between Gaster and Sans, suddenly alarmed. Despite his exhaustion, he began to drag himself forward towards his fallen brother.

Not again! He wouldn’t let his brother be taken again!

Papyrus could feel Frisk clamber back up onto his neck, now crawling onto the top of his skull as the doctor slowly and deliberately approached. 

“Papyrus, wait!” They said, grasping at his cranium. “He might - he might take you, too!”

The skeleton froze in mid-crawl, as Gaster’s attention was drawn to him. 

The effects of Undyne’s GREEN attack had completely left him. He seemed to have reformed, the glitching that surrounded him subsiding. He seemed very imposing, again. The strange energies radiating off of him seemed to be becoming more concentrated. More present.

 ** _I appreciate your efforts to preserve my weaponry._** He said, slowly walking towards Papyrus (who began to scramble back). **_It seems I was correct in assuming you would not harm your brother._**

He tilted his head in thought.  
****

**_Then again… you barely managed that at all, didn’t you? Thank goodness for your human friend, there._ **

Papyrus drew in a breath. He couldn’t speak. He was actually quite sure that even if he was able to, he would have remained silent.  
****

**_Humans are quite intriguing._** Gaster nodded. **_Nothing short of extraordinary. Determined beyond all reason. Though - also quite fragile, aren’t they?_**

His gaze flicked to Papyrus.  
****

**_I’m surprised you didn’t take extra care to protect them. _**Gaster remarked. **_The way you were carrying around, you very nearly crushed them._**

Papyrus flinched.  
****

He very nearly _had_ …

His focus suddenly turned to Frisk, still sitting on his head.

… and if Gaster captured him, Papyrus would…

The skeleton bowed his head low to the ground, causing Frisk to slide off his skull with a startled cry.   
****

“Papyrus?! What’re you doing?”

He began to nudge the human away with his muzzle, hurriedly, despite their protests. It wasn’t safe here. Frisk needed to leave, before…

 ** _…It seems you understand, now._** Gaster said, flatly. ** _You have become quite dangerous in this state, haven’t you? How long before your rational mind leaves you, once more?_**

The skeleton gave Frisk another nudge, only to feel them embrace his muzzle tightly.  
****

“Papyrus… don’t.”

He let out a whine in protest. Frisk only hugged him harder.

“You need to calm down, okay?” They whispered. “Don’t listen to him… don’t give up. I’m not leaving you here.”

He closed his eyes, giving a soft growl. This fear - this strange, paralysing feeling - was racing ahead of him, again and he wasn’t quite sure how to process it.

_< FRISK…>_

**_How can you be sure you will not hurt those you care for?_ **

His eyes reopened, and Papyrus spotted Gaster holding out one of his hands. 

**_I can offer you safety. I can offer you peace of mind, as I have for your brother. And in turn, you and all you care for will be safe._ **

Frisk released his muzzle, slowly turning to the doctor, a hand still on his nose.

“…why are you doing this?”

Their tone wasn’t hostile. Even now, Papyrus noted that Frisk was trying to understand Gaster’s motivations. But a deep sadness laced their quiet voice.

“You’re hurting my friends. You’re _using_ them. E-even now, you’re trying to manipulate them.” The human said, softly. “Why…?”

Papyrus felt Frisk’s hand gently place itself on the side of skull. He felt his fear fade, just a little.

Gaster tilted their head.

**_My reason?_ **

He shrugged. ** _You’ll have to understand I have little reason to explain myself to a human._** His eyebrows raised.  ** _And to one as... capable as yourself._**  
****

Frisk shook their head. “Then _you_ have to understand that I can’t let you keep treating my friends like this!” They said, firmly. “Even if you explained yourself properly - I don’t think there _can_ be a good enough reason for this at all!”

The human stood tall, stepping in front of skeleton, arms outstretched to either side. “You can’t treat Sans and Papyrus like this!”

Gaster sighed.

**_A shame, really. A part of me was hoping we could have been properly acquainted, Frisk._ **

A hand surged forward, aiming for Papyrus. 

_**Later, perhaps.** _

Frisk leapt up, intercepting the disembodied hand. Their small hands grabbed it, and they pushed back against it with all their strength.

“NO!” They said, firmly. “You can't take them away!”

Papyrus’ eyes grew wide. He slowly rose his head, trembling in effort and exhaustion.

_< FRISK…!>_

He didn’t know what this feeling was. Papyrus was afraid - definitely afraid, but he’d never had his own fear work so strongly _against_ him. 

He pushed back against the feeling, as hard as he possibly could.

He was so tired.

But Papyrus wanted to stay here. He wanted to stay awake.

His eyes shut.

... he wanted to be _safe._

 

 

* * *

 

 

Gaster glowered at the human’s efforts. A new feeling, one that seemed to have flickered back into existence with his most recent addition to his form, came to the forefront of his mind. It wasn’t quite anger. Or rage.

Ah, yes. Irritation.

He’d been patient. He’d been rational. He’d given them their options. And look at where it had left him.

Frisk strained hard against his hand. Though the human was physically quite weak, the fact that they were successfully keeping it away from Papyrus spoke volumes about how weak his own physical form still was.

He still needed to fix that. He was becoming increasingly corporeal, but his strength was lacking.

Gaster raised the remainder of his hands, focusing on Papyrus. Once he’d gathered up his equipment, he’d move on to the next...

He suddenly became aware of the whine of a laser charge sounding from behind him.

Gaster blinked.

He turned on the spot, staring into the dim shadows.

Two white pinpricks of light stared back. 

The laser fired before he could react. Two of his hands, rushing to recapture the weapon, were caught in the beam and he recoiled, feeling the scalding pain of heat for the first time in years. It hit his shoulder, which glitched in response but still  _burned_ beyond belief. He recalled all of his hands, covering his face with all four of them and doubling over. He did not scream, but his form was glitching considerably in suppressing one.

It was worse than the godforsaken captain’s spears.

Gaster hovered up into the air, peering through his fingers as his hands dropped away from his face, one-by-one. 

 

He glared down to see a very awake Sans.

 

**_…You._ **

The beast snarled back up at him.

 

Gaster frowned. With his focus entirely on Papyrus, he had turned his back on the presumably unconscious Sans. He'd lost focus on his weapon.

It had been enough of a margin for Sans to begin regaining focus - and he'd succeeded. It must have been the human's voice. The captain's attack. Papyrus' presence. A combination of insipid factors that had wormed their way into Sans' consciousness. 

_Familiarity._

“Sans…?”

The human’s voice carried through the air, hopeful but shaken. Sans’ features set into a glare, still staring up at Gaster.

The doctor needed to move quickly. With both weapons re-establishing their wills, it would be difficult to reclaim them both in one fell swoop. They were both exhausted, but with Gaster only partially corporeal, he could not just depend on them losing themselves to fearful and aggressive nature of their forms.

He focused all of his energy on Sans.

Papyrus had barely been able to refrain from lashing out when he’d been attacked. He certainly had the energy for it. If he used his brother again - this time completely under his control - perhaps Papyrus’ mind would revert back to a more agreeable state…

An electronic screech sounded throughout the caverns.

A horrible pulling sensation resonated in Gaster’s soul.

His eyes grew wide, as he found himself being pulled in several directions at once. It felt like he was being stretched - _ripped_ apart. Black particles stuttered around him, and he lost the shape of his legs, replaced with black wisps.

The air was thick with energy. Frisk was hugging Papyrus around the muzzle, as his eyes began to flicker orange in alarm. Sans was glancing around, equally alarmed at the sight of tears in spacetime flickering into sight.

Gaster froze.

He turned to the CORE, noticing the deep hum of heavy machinery beginning to re-activate.

His eyes grew wide. His anchor…

**_nO…_ **

Gaster turned to reach out to Sans, hurriedly. But the skeleton instinctively snapped at the offending hand, his eyes flickering blue in response to the strange goings-on around him. His lower jaw clicked as it split apart - threatening to summon another laser blast.  
****

Gaster sneered. There was no time. He couldn’t reclaim his transport in the time he needed.

His eyes fell onto a rip in space.

It was a risk. He was not like Sans. He could not use the rifts alone, or unscathed.

Due to his lack of corporeality, however, it was likely that he would be able to bend the rules of this reality once more.

Gaster snarled.

To be eliminated by his own weapon... to be torn apart by the forces of spacetime...

... or to be pulled out of existence again.

As he spotted the blue light beginning to gather in Sans' maw, Gaster made his decision.

He dove towards the rift.

He had to act.

Before the anchor he’d so carefully crafted disintegrated into nothing.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Gaster disappeared into a burst of static, and the heaviness of his presence left the area.

The electronic screeches subsided, and Sans shook himself out, the blue in his eyes fading, replaced with his normal pinpricks of light. The laser fire building in his maw fizzled out - he'd barely registered it to begin with.

Everything in his mind was still a bit of a blur, but he instantly clung onto his memories, drawing in one shaky gasp after another.

 _come on… come on, buddy…_ He whispered to himself.

He had to come back. Sans couldn’t stay in this form any longer. He wasn’t sure what would happen if he did. 

He wasn’t going to give Gaster the chance.

 _come on… this isn’t_ **_you_ ** _…_

Blue energy crackled about his form, and he felt a lurch.

His bones snapped and popped as he shrank, and he fell to his side from the shock. His gritted his teeth in pain, curling into himself. The changes flowed faster as he focused, and he tried to prop himself back up with a claw that was rapidly changing back into a hand. The pain was overwhelming, but he focused harder, hoping the changes would speed up. 

He needed to be _normal_. He needed to be Sans, again.

He felt the sensation of clothing reforming on his bones, and pulled himself back up on his hands and knees. His body felt familiar, again. The right size. 

His body. His mind. It was _his_.

It didn’t take long for the changes to finish.

Sans grasped at the rocky ground, drawing in a deep, shuddering breath.

For a moment, he stayed like that, simply feeling the earth shred beneath his fingers. He could feel the heat of Hotland swirling around him, on his arms, legs, hands and feet.

There were rips in his jacket - but he was wearing one. There were claws on his fingers - but he had thumbs. 

Sans rubbed at his neck bones, as if making sure they were still attached.

His body ached all over - but it was _there_. 

It was his.

He was _here_.

Sans shifted his weight back, so he was sitting on his knees. His breathing evened out - unnecessary for a skeleton, but calming. He held his claws out before him, grimacing at the sight of them, before running them over his aching skull.

He gritted his teeth, feeling the wicked spikes and ridges along the sides of his skull. After tracing them for a moment, he realised with no small amount of frustration that this was as good as it was going to get.

Gaster must still have some kind of hold on him.

Still fatigued, he rested a hand on the ground to support himself, letting out a deep sigh. 

… well, _that_ had been all kinds of terrible.

He supposed he’d lucked out, in some minuscule way. Almost mercifully, Sans had been unconscious for the most part. He’d felt like he’d been bludgeoned in the skull, placed in a strange state where he couldn’t really see anything and nothing could reach through to him. There was a blankness stretching over the past several hours that he couldn’t recall, punctuated by brief glimpses, flashes of fear and rage…

… and voices.

He’d woken a few times. But there were very few scenes he could recollect without it feeling like he was viewing them through a fogged-up window.

He remembered Gaster taking him away, even under the foggy haze his mind had been placed under. He remembered completing his transformation in Waterfall, and remembered the rage he’d felt - a rage that he wasn’t quite sure all came from him. And then, a promise of peace - before losing consciousness to a commanding voice.

When he next remembered waking, he remembered a cacophony of screams, strange (and somehow familiar) voices melting together. They must have been important, because he’d struggled hard against the commanding blankness that was meant to make everything _easier_. A stronger command forced him to black out, once more.

The third time had been brief, but admittedly terrifying.

He’d been alone. There was no command to override his fear. Nothing to direct him. 

He’d been in a dark place. Dim lighting. For a moment, he knew that everything about this situation was wrong. The blankness was gone, and he had been given room to think. And yet it did him no good. 

He knew that something of his had been taken away. And when his eyes landed on the doctor, his instinct and his anger swept over him.

Even in that haze, even under all that fear - Sans had known that in spite of the safety he’d felt, the blankness that had protected him from his fear - this rage felt very, very justified.

A fanged, bitter smile appeared upon Sans’ face. His hand grasped at the rocky ground. Cracks began to travel outwards from the force, and the rock fractured slightly, fragments clutched in his fingers. His eyes went entirely dim.

 _“that’s a new low, doc.”_ He whispered, softly.

Gaster had kicked the hornet’s nest. 

_Just to show that he could._

Suddenly, he was snapped out of his thoughts, and his eyes regained their usual brightness. Someone had tugged him up by the back of his hood, holding him straight up in the air. 

He found himself face-to-face with an exhausted-looking Undyne.

She was studying him intently with her remaining eye. She had burns on her arms, and the dry environment appeared to be taking its toll on her, her normally shiny scaly skin looking dried-out. Yet she scrutinised his facial features, cautiously - as if unsure about who she was talking to.

“…Say something.” She said finally.

Sans blinked. He started to speak, but his voice caught and he coughed a couple of times instead, expelling small blue sparks from his mouth. 

He cleared his throat. How many lasers had he shot? 

“… you look like hell.” was all he could really say. His voice sounded rough, but it wasn’t pitched any differently. 

Undyne gave a tired, toothy grin. 

“Yeah, well, same to you, dude…” She said, carefully placing him back on the ground. In spite of her aggressive nature, she still understood how fragile Sans could be.

He stumbled a little as he landed, still fatigued.

“… what’d i miss?” Sans asked, softly. He knew he’d been out for a long time, and whatever brief glimpses he’d gained wasn’t nearly enough to complete the picture. He could already tell by Undyne’s state that it was bad. 

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know _how_ bad.

_“Papyrus…?”_

Frisk’s soft-spoken voice grabbed his and Undyne’s attention. They both turned to face the L3 lift, where a large, skeletal beast lay. Another fully-formed Blaster.

Sans froze.

Frisk stood at the creature’s skull, quietly stroking his muzzle as his breathing grew strained. There were scrapes on his face, a burn or two on his ribcage, but he seemed to be in pain for another reason. 

Orange energy crackled around the beast, and his form began to respond in kind.

“Papyrus!” Undyne limped towards the creature, his bones snapping and popping as he began to shrink. The orange energy crackled and danced around him, reforming his scarf, his armour - even the beginnings of his gloves began to materialise on his wrists.

Sans stepped forward, slowly at first. Then, he burst into a jog that outpaced the injured Undyne (who protested, indignantly).

The last thing he recalled in that long blank episode of his, was that he’d regained consciousness a _fourth_ time. 

It had all only happened minutes ago. A mess of fear, anger, tooth and claw. Heat and fire and piercing blue light. Burning. And yet, those memories felt like they were choosing to be the slowest to return. It was too much, too soon.

He honestly wasn’t sure if he was any hurry to remember.

Sans watched as the light subsided, revealing an exhausted Papyrus on his hands and knees. Frisk pushed him back, so that he was sitting upright on his shins.

Sans’ pace slowed at the sight of him.

He saw the jaggedness on the sides of his skull. The claws, the teeth. The small spikes poking out from the back of his armour.

Sans’ eyes remained wide for a few moments.

Then, they dimmed completely.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Are you feeling okay?”

Papyrus was blinking, owlishly. His surroundings were a blur, but his body, though sore, seemed to feel familiar to him again. He was so disoriented that he couldn’t quite coordinate his movements. (How many legs did he have, again?)

It didn’t take long for him to realise Frisk was right in front of him. The fight fresh in his mind, as well as Gaster’s words, he instinctively pulled away, alarmed. 

“W-WAIT…”

He started coughing, hard. His throat still burned a little. All from laser fire that he’d never launched. His voice sounded strained.

Papyrus blinked. 

His voice?

He felt the human hug him around his middle. Startled, he looked down at Frisk, who’d buried their face into his scarf.

…His scarf. 

Papyrus blinked again.

His hands. His _voice_.

Papyrus _was_ himself again. Still much pointier than usual, but… but the fear screaming in his head was gone.

Hesitantly at first, he wrapped his arms around Frisk. Then, he tightened his hug, suddenly overwhelmed with relief. Papyrus had hands! He was close to the ground! His battle body was intact! He could _talk!_

He…

… he wasn’t _dangerous_ anymore!

“Y-YOU DID IT… YOU DID IT, FRISK! I KNEW IT!”

Papyrus withdrew from Frisk, tears in his eyes. Despite everything, he was beaming at the human.

 “I _KNEW_ I COULD COUNT ON YOU!”

Frisk smiled back, giving a small, relieved laugh. It was then when Papyrus realized exactly how exhausted they looked. 

A lot had happened. 

The skeleton’s face fell.

… a _lot_ had happened.

“YOU _SAVED_ ME…” He recounted, quietly. “UNDYNE SAVED _US_ …”

He blinked. “AND _I_ …”

“It’s okay, Papyrus.” Frisk interrupted him gently, and the skeleton noticed how raspy their voice was from yelling so much. They had been fighting so hard to save him - to get through to him, and he’d very nearly…

He’d almost -

_“papyrus?”_

The skeleton’s thought process stopped in its tracks. 

Papyrus slowly turned to his side, hearing someone’s soft and slow approach.

His eyes fell onto a familiar figure.

The shorter skeleton’s teeth were sharp. He had the barest trace of a muzzle, and his familiar visage was framed by spikes on the side and back of his skull. His hands were buried in his jacket pockets, though Papyrus knew that they were probably clawed, too.

But it was definitely Sans standing there, no more than three feet away from him.

“papyrus…”

The smaller skeleton stared hard at him. His eyes were normal. His sockets weren’t flooded in blue light. There were no white rings there, either.

“… he got you, too?” Sans asked.

Papyrus felt Frisk release him in response to hearing the smaller skeleton’s voice. Sans’ gaze lowered, the light in his sockets dimming. 

He looked about as tired as Papyrus felt.

“this shouldn’t have happened…” He said, softly. “why the hell would he…”

Sans shook his head, as if to stop his thoughts in their tracks. Taking in a deep breath, he calmed and glanced back up at Papyrus, his smile grim, but resolute.

“it’s gonna be okay, bro.” He nodded, as if thinking through his options. “don’t worry about a thing, yeah? i’m gonna find a way to change you back - ”

“ _SANS_.” 

His brother looked back up at him, startled, before he was suddenly swept up in a crushing hug. The spikes on his vertebrae pressed into his arms a little, but Papyrus couldn’t care less.

He was here.

Sans was _here!_

“YOU’RE _OKAY!!_ YOU’RE _TALKING!”_ Papyrus withdrew, beaming and holding a slightly startled Sans out at arm’s length. “YOU _RECOGNISED_ ME!”

Sans gave a slow, stunned blink before he was pulled back into his brother’s embrace.

“I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! I WAS SO WORRIED THAT I’D LOST YOU - BUT THAT’S _COMPLETELY_ UNREASONABLE BECAUSE I _KNEW_ WE’D BE ABLE TO FIND YOU!!!”

Papyrus’ grip loosened a little, suddenly conscious of his own strength.

Suddenly conscious of what had just happened.

“I _KNEW_ WE’D GET YOU BACK." He said, his voice starting to waver. _"ESPECIALLY_ WITH THE COMBINED EFFORTS OF UNDYNE, FRISK AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND…”

His voice caught in his throat, everything catching up with him suddenly.

“…A-AND…”

His head bowed into Sans’ shoulder, eyes shut tightly. He began to tremble.

“… PLEASE DON’T SCARE ME LIKE THAT, AGAIN.”

There was a silence. Papyrus focused hard on _not_ bawling like a baby bones. No waterworks. He didn't cry. He didn't need to.

But then, the younger skeleton felt his brother return the embrace, as firmly as he possibly could.

“… i’m really sorry, bro.”

He felt himself calming significantly. Sans was here. He was back, and he was safe - and he could be protected.

Right now, he wouldn’t think about what had just happened.

He ignored the sharp spikes on his brother, right now just taking solace in the fact that he was okay.

He ignored the sight of the claw marks on the charred, rocky platform, relieved that the ground was still solid beneath them.

Just for now, no matter how small it seemed in the grand scheme of things… 

…he wanted to count this as a victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I can probably stamp this with a big ol' "End Of Act One" sign. We've got a ways to go.
> 
> Thank you very much for reading, guys. : )


	8. A Flaw

A shrill, piercing screech tore through the low hum of the CORE’s machinery.

The control room grew increasingly bathed in violet light, stark black shadows stretching across the floor.

Particles of black heralded Gaster’s arrival as he burst through a rip in space. His form was sagging, wilting - his body seemed to be dragged along with each step, in stark contrast to his previous, wispy state. He almost seemed dented - holes and tears seemed to appear all over the black mass that was his body.

He studied a hand in revulsion, watching it melt slightly.

Well, he'd survived the leap. That accounted for something.

Leaving a sickly, wispy trail of black matter upon the floor, Gaster pulled himself over to the control panel, staring hard at the core’s activity. The dark star was pulsating, warping in response to the fusion emitters that surrounded it.

They had been switched on, and were now steadily overwhelming his anchor.

Someone had initiated the activation sequence.

Gaster glanced down at the control panel, sternly. Then, focusing all his energy on solidifying his hands as much as possible, he deftly and expertly assigned all four of his hands to different tasks. At an alarming speed, he recalibrated the fusion emitters, stopped the activation sequence, introduced a touch of thermal activity to stabilise the output, and scratched his head in thought while doing so.

The dark star began to glow brighter, but after a few moments, it dimmed back to its stable state.

He felt his form solidify properly once more, and his legs re-materialised from black wisps. Even the effects of dragging himself through space were fading quickly, the wilting beginning to cease. The holes and tears vanished.

Gaster stared hard at the star, content in his efforts, leaning forward with two hands resting on the edge of the control panel.

His eyes narrowed.

Well, this introduced a new dilemma.

Someone remained within the CORE facility. Someone who knew its activation sequence, and who was able to power individual consoles, at the very least. He had been confident that nobody would have been able to reactivate the contraption without power, but the person who had managed the feat was clearly equipped to do a lot of damage to his intentions.

Standing up straight, he took a deep breath. It was getting harder to do this, the more he gained solid form. But judging by the amount of time it had been since the CORE had been re-activated, he was sure that the culprit could not have left the building.

Through his connection with the energies of the void, he honed in on any sign of a soul in the facility.

A single magical energy signature popped up.

His eyes reopened. They were close. On the same floor, in fact. They were hurrying away as quickly as they possibly could - perhaps they had fled moments before he’d arrived.

Gaster’s form glitched, slightly. Then, he surged out to the hall, honing in on the monster’s position.

Whoever they were, they appeared to be quite fast. Though speed seemed to be one of the perks of being incorporeal, and he was closing in quickly. He could hear them puffing as he grew closer, catching a glimpse of a white lab coat darting around the corner.

He followed after, hearing the hum and a slam of an electronic door sliding closed. His eyes fell onto the door’s electronic control console, which was activated, despite the facility being depowered. The perpetrator must have had access to a portable power source of some kind.

He placed a hand on the door. He was too solid to move through these surfaces, now. He’d need to settle for something else.

Gaster glanced at the console. He didn’t have much time. Whatever power source the monster was using to activate it would likely provide only a temporary activation.

He ripped open the console with a swift motion, then keyed in a sequence on a number pad hidden underneath. He slammed it shut, pressing in the ‘lock’ command.

 ****The door console ran out of power. It reactivated again, and the sounds of claws scrambling across a keypad on the other side reached him, only to be followed by a negative tone and a red, flashing light.  
****

The person on the other side gasped in alarm, and Gaster glared.

 ** _Remain there._** He said. **_I don’t need the likes of you wasting my time._**

Turning away, he heard the desperate scratches coming from the other side of the door as he walked off.

One problem solved, for now. One more thing out of the way. He still needed to search for the keys to his stabilisation, and to regain his tools - but at least the CORE was secure. Perhaps he would check in periodically, to make certain that his new captive had not found a way to escape.

 

_(... Why don't you kill them now?)_

 

He paused in his stride, blinking at the sudden thought that had popped into his head.

No. No unnecessary killing. It was messy, and destroyed potential uses for people. Killing was only suitable for those who had lived past their usefulness.

Besides - he had better things to do than deal with a strange little monster locked in a closet.

 

_(You don't know what they're capable of. You don't know what they can do. They nearly managed to erase you from existence again. You nearly returned to the darkness of the void, because of them.)_

 

And their technological know-how was _exactly_ why they were to remain alive, he reasoned. Surely, there may be some use out of the individual. They seemed small and weak. It would be easy to coerce them.

 

_(And let them near the controls, again? This is a disaster waiting to happen. Disaster upon disaster. Mistake after mistake._

 

_...Haven't you learned anything from last time?)_

 

Gaster suddenly punched the wall side-on. The frantic scratching from the door behind him stopped, entirely.

Thankfully, the thoughts did, too.

He briefly glanced back at the closed door. His gaze rested there for a moment, before he turned around and continued down the hall.

No more distractions. He had to stay focused. He was fine.

 

He was perfectly fine.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Frisk sighed as the cool air of river passage washed over them.

Moments after the skeleton brothers had reunited, it was unanimously decided that the small group needed to backtrack to _any_ place that was not next to boiling magma.

They’d wandered back in silence, Frisk unsure what to say and Undyne too dehydrated to make quips or scold Papyrus. Said skeleton was exhausted, but had insisted in carrying his brother on his back. Sans did not protest, but he too seemed to have fallen silent.

They descended to the bottom level of Hotland through Papyrus’ bone magic, providing a makeshift staircase as Undyne’s spears had (though he moved slowly, focusing especially hard on not dropping his cargo). They wandered down to the water canal, where the River Person would usually be docked.

Undyne limped to the water’s edge, and then collapsed into the river, remaining submerged for a long while.

Papyrus sat at the edge of the canal, setting his brother down and (out of discomfort and several near-instances of tripping) removing his own tattered boots. He placed his feet into the water and blinked at the sight of them, still taken aback at how strange they looked.

Sans had sat next to him, cross-legged. He hadn’t said a word to anyone since he’d hugged Papyrus, choosing instead to quietly stare into space. He hadn’t even looked at Frisk, or directly at Undyne or his brother for a while.

After a few moments, he seemed to relax, letting his posture slump a little as opposed to curling into himself.

Frisk stared at him for a few moments, before they hesitantly approached.

“Sans…?

They tensed a little when the small skeleton seemed to snap out of his thoughts to look at them.

His appearance was _wrong_ , like Papyrus’ was.

He still eerily resembled the monstrous skulls, but a lot of it was nullified by familiarity. His skull was rounder around the edges - his jacket, his shorts, his slippers were all slightly worse for wear but present.

Sans’ studied them a moment, in silence. His gaze flicked to where Undyne had submerged herself, and then to Papyrus who seemed to be staring into space, and then finally settled back on Frisk.

“…you’re lookin’ pretty awful, yourself.” He said, with a tired chuckle.

Frisk teared up a little.

Darting forward, they hugged him tightly around the middle. The skeleton tensed a little in surprise, before returning the gesture firmly.

“… hey, kid.” He said, softly.

“FRISK! NOT SO ROUGH WITH HIM!” Papyrus said, a little alarmed. “SANS, YOU WEREN’T HURT BACK THERE, WERE YOU?”

“nah. more worried about the kid, here.” He adjusted his grip. “i’m not exactly huggable like this.”

Sans withdrew from Frisk, and the human could see how exhausted he looked. That did not detract from their relief at hearing him speak, again - seeing Sans devoid of his laid-back nature was like having the rug pulled out from under Frisk. 

“We were all really worried.” The human said, their voice wavering a little. “I-I… Are you okay?”

Sans was silent a moment. Frisk could see Papyrus hovering slightly in concern from behind him.

“… i guess i’ve been better.” The smaller skeleton said, his gaze returning to the human. “but i’ve also been a lot worse.” He added, with a small grin. “so, i’ve got that going for me.”

“I GUESS SO…” Papyrus said, and Frisk could hear an unusual kind of weariness in his voice.

Sans seemed to pick up on this himself, looking in his direction.

“you feeling okay, bro?”

“WHAT?” Papyrus shook his head. “I-I’M PERFECTLY FINE!”

The taller skeleton suddenly seemed self-conscious, straightening his posture. “IT’S _YOU_ WE SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT! YOU WERE..."

He faltered. "Y-YOU WERE WITH HIM LONGER THAN I WAS..."

“... yeah, i guess.” Sans muttered, staring back into space. His grin wasn’t filling up half his face like it usually did, and Papyrus stared at him, thoughtfully.

Meanwhile, Frisk stared at the river, a little perturbed by the lack of activity.

“Is… is Undyne okay?”

Papyrus leaned downwards, observing the river’s surface.

“NO NEED TO WORRY, FRISK!” He said (and Frisk caught him sneaking a quick glance to his brother). “SHE’S JUST _CURRENT_ -LY REHYDRATING.”

The small grin on Sans’ face grew, slightly, and Undyne’s head broke the surface of the water, her eye narrowed at Papyrus.

“Ughh. _Not_ what I wanna come back to. Especially not now.”

With that statement, she hoisted herself up on the riverbank. Her scaly skin, formerly dull and dried-out had been restored to her usual sheen, and she stretched out her arms before sitting down next to Frisk.

The four sat in silence for a moment, the previous mood beginning to catch up with them. They all simply stared into the dark waters of the river, watching the current pass them by.

“… YOU DIDN’T ANSWER MY QUESTION, SANS.” Papyrus said, quietly. “ARE YOU OKAY?”

Sans’ gaze remained fixed on the river.

“…do you even _remember_ anything?” Undyne asked. “You gave us all a bit of a workout, there.” She lay back on the riverbed, focusing intently on the stalactites on the ceiling.

Sans shrugged, his steadfast grin still remaining upon his features. “well, that _definitely_ doesn’t sound like me at all.”  He scratched his head, scraping against his newly-developed spikes. “as for what i remember, well…”

Sans turned to Papyrus, his grin starting to resemble a grimace.

“…nothing i’d care to repeat.”

The smaller skeleton quietly gestured to his forehead. A little confused, Papyrus’ hand rose up to feel at his own skull, and he winced upon feeling the traces of a slash.

“…i’d say you’ve witnessed all that stuff firsthand, by the looks of it.” Sans said.

He glanced over to Frisk and Undyne, staring back at him.

“ _all_ of you.” He added.

Frisk watched as he shoved his hands into his pockets and closed his eyes, giving a small sigh.

“i’m _sorry_.”

“Hey. Hey. Come on. None of that guilty 'woe is me' stuff, okay?” Undyne said, sitting back up. “I can't freaking stand that stuff.  _Gaster_ was the one who - ”

Sans’ eyes flew open, his sockets dark and directed towards the Royal Captain.

_“D o n ‘ t   e v e n   m e n t i o n   h i s   n a m e.”_

Everyone fell silent. Frisk tried not to flinch. The rare, threatening tone that Sans used was all the more emphasised by his misshapen skull.

It didn’t seem to affect the other monsters in the same way. Papyrus looked more concerned than startled.

And initially put off by Sans’ sudden change of tone, Undyne narrowed her eyes.

“Okay. Fine.” She said, somber, before a wicked grin stretched across her features. “I guess we’ll call him a _bast_ \- ”

There was a mad scramble, and Frisk’s hearing was suddenly muffled by Papyrus’ hands.

“NOT IN FRONT OF _FRISK_!” He chided, alarmed. Sans blinked, seemingly snapped out of his quiet fury.

“… no complaints, there.” He said, glancing over to Undyne. “just… can’t say i’m too excited about this topic.”

Papyrus blinked. “NEITHER AM I! BUT SANS… I HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS…”

“I-I do, too.” Frisk interjected, becoming increasingly aware of Sans' caginess.

They had his attention. It was reluctant, tired, but the smaller skeleton seemed to be ruminating on something.

“… guess i should fill you in on some things.” Sans admitted, clicking the claws of his thumb and forefinger together, studying them with a mild kind of distaste. "if we're gonna be dealing with the doc."

Papyrus took his legs out of the canal, and crossed them, slightly hunched over.

“SANS… FIRST OF ALL, DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENED TO THE BOTH OF US?” He asked. 

Sans turned to face him, consciously shoving his hands back into his pockets.

“… I-I KNOW THAT YOU DON'T LIKE TALKING ABOUT A LOT OF THINGS." Papyrus added (Sans raised his eyebrows at this). "AND THAT’S OKAY! …BUT THIS ALSO CONCERNS ME, NOW! A-AND I'VE NEVER SEEN YOU IN _THIS_ MUCH DANGER, BEFORE...”

He fidgeted with his claws, looking down at the river. "I'VE DECIDED THAT I DON'T LIKE IT, SANS! THE GREAT PAPYRUS _MUST_ KNOW WHAT TO DO IN ANY SITUATION. I NEED TO BE BETTER PREPARED FOR..." He glanced up at his brother. "... F-FOR NEXT TIME."

Sans studied his brother for a moment. Frisk couldn't read his expression.

“...alright, point taken.” The skeleton said, tapping one of the spikes on the side of his skull. “...the word ‘gaster’ is back in the dictionary, i guess.”

Papyrus seemed to visibly relax at this, but blinked as Sans' eye sockets went dim.

The older skeleton turned to the river, observing the current drifting by.

"...how’d he find you, anyway?” He asked, softly.

Papyrus blinked. “I WAS LOOKING FOR _YOU!”_ He said, almost incredulously - before grasping at his arm, again. “... I-I SUPPOSE I FOUND _HIM,_ INSTEAD.” 

The light returned to Sans' eye sockets. "... and he just _did_ this to you?" He asked, quietly.

“You said there was a vial, Papyrus.” Undyne interrupted, crossing her arms. “When he changed you, right? ...Was that really all there was to it?”

The smaller skeleton shifted in his position, suddenly considerably more alert.

“vial, huh?” He stared hard at his brother, who suddenly seemed quite uncomfortable. “wasn’t, uh… _vial-_ et, was it?”

“I-IT WAS.” Papyrus didn’t seem to notice the play on words, and Sans’ grin shrank a little. “IT WAS VIOLET… AND GLOW-Y AND I’M REALLY WONDERING WHY HE WOULD HAVE SUCH A HORRIBLE THING IN THE FIRST PLACE!” Papyrus crossed his arms, though he looked increasingly nervous on the subject matter.

The smaller skeleton sighed. “yeah. i'm not sure if anyone needs to hear the answer to that one.”

Undyne's gaze darted to Papyrus with a mild kind of concern, before she glared, turning her sitting position around to face Sans. “Alright, nerd. You know what _that_ vial thing is, yeah? Feel like sharing?”

All eyes were on Sans. He seemed much more interested in the river.

Though Frisk had a lot of respect for the older skeleton, they were steadily becoming more familiar with his evasions.

The human was pleasantly surprised when he turned back to look at them.

”it’s simple, really.”

Closing his eyes with a shrug, he took a deep breath.

“… it’s a pathogenic mutagen specifically tailored to my physical properties that modifies my physical form for weaponisation, among other uses.”

Frisk, Papyrus and Undyne stared in silence. 

Sans eyes reopened.

“… it’s a really bad sickness.” He simplified with a grin.

Frisk snapped their fingers in comprehension. “ _Oh._ ”

“SICKNESS?” Papyrus studied his hands again, with renewed concern. “WE’RE _SICK_?”

“… a sickness that makes you turn into a massive monster?” Undyne quipped. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it sounded cool.”

“IT IS ENTIRELY THE _OPPOSITE_ OF COOL, UNDYNE.” Papyrus said, beginning to wring his hands. 

“Well yeah, of course.” Undyne’s tone had grown somber. “Nah, ‘sickness’ definitely fits the bill better. I wouldn’t be calling any of this the picture of health.” She added, gesturing to the skeleton brothers. Papyrus shrank in on himself a bit in response.

(“ouch.” Mumbled Sans.)

“… ‘specifically tailored…’” Frisk was slowly going through the terms in their head, before perking up. “… but wait. If the illness was made just for _you_ , then - how is it affecting Papyrus?”

Sans glanced up at his brother, who was experimentally tapping his claws together, a bit put off by the whole situation.

 _"... two for the price of one, huh?"_ Sans mumbled under his breath. Then, he straightened his posture.

“not _too_ far a stretch.” He said, thoughtfully. “papyrus and i have very similar physical properties. we’re both skeletons. magic-infused. verte- _bros_ , as it were.”

Papyrus was jolted out of his activity, giving his brother a wide-eyed glare.

Satisfied with getting a response this time, Sans turned back to Undyne and Frisk. “don’t think it’d have the same effect on other monsters. or humans.” He continued, thoughtfully. “in fact, i wouldn’t think too hard about its effects on someone with skin.”

There was a pause.

“…Ugh. Too late.” Undyne said, making a face. Frisk paled.

“S-SO, BROTHER.” Papyrus quickly cut in, eager to change the topic. “...YOU SAID THAT THIS IS AN _ILLNESS_ THAT THIS GASTER MADE. A 'MUTAGEN.'”

Frisk looked back at him. His hand was initially cupped under his chin as he thought, though he pricked himself on his bifurcated jaw, and instead let his hand drop to his lap.

“… HOW EXACTLY DOES IT _WORK_?” He asked, frowning. “PART OF IT IS… BECOMING _SPIKY_ AND THEN TURNING INTO THESE HORRIBLE BEASTS, BUT…" He glanced down, tugging a little on the frayed ends of his ripped gloves. "...IT’S MORE THAN JUST THAT, ISN’T IT?”

Frisk blinked. "Yeah..."

Undyne glared. "... a _lot_ more."

Sans looked over at Papyrus, who suddenly seemed very uncomfortable.

"... well, yeah." He muttered. "you probably figured this out yourself, bro, but our bodies aren't the only things that are affected."

Papyrus seemed to flinch at this. 

Undyne crossed her arms. "Yeah. Hate to bring this up - but when you guys were fighting, Gaster wasn't in control of the situation at all, was he?"

Frisk turned to her, startled, before they noted a somber expression on the captain's face. She wasn't angry, just concerned.

"I should know. I was pinning him there." She sighed.

She looked up at the brothers. Her gaze remained piercing. "But you guys weren't in control, either. What exactly happened back there?"

A snap sounded, and Frisk turned to see Papyrus gripping at one of his wrists, one of his joints popping from the pressure. Sans placed a hand on his shoulder.

"easy, pap."

The taller skeleton released his wrist, as if startled that he had been grasping it so hard.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

“I-I’M NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENED.” He crossed his legs, shoulders hunched."I... REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED _NOW_ , BUT... AT THE TIME..."

Papyrus looked down. “I FORGOT _EVERYTHING_ … I COULDN'T RECALL A SINGLE THING. WHO YOU ALL WERE, OR... OR EVEN MY OWN NAME."

There was a silence.

"Nothing?" Undyne asked, eye wide. "Nothing at _all?_ "

Frisk took in a deep breath.

"... what...  do you remember about the fight?" They asked, hesitantly.

Papyrus looked up at the human, mild terror in his eyes.

"I REMEMBER..."

His gaze flicked to Sans. Orange flickered in his eyes, and he blinked it away. His brother was silent.

“… I REMEMBER BEING SO FRIGHTENED! SO UNLIKE MY BRAVE AND COURAGEOUS SELF.” Papyrus added, with certainty. “I SAW EVERYTHING AROUND ME AS A THREAT! AND… AND I DON’T BELIEVE I WAS THINKING STRAIGHT AT ALL.”

He scratched his head, adjusting his hand when he accidentally pricked himself on the spikes on the side of his head. “IN FACT, I DON’T BELIEVE I WAS REALLY _THINKING_ TO BEGIN WITH! I WAS... JUST FEELING.”

There was a silence, as Papyrus automatically curled in on himself again.

"... AND I FELT _SCARED_."

Frisk suddenly felt horrible for asking the question in the first place.

Sans closed his eyes.

“…welp."

He stood up, hands in his pockets.

"guess we’re on the same page, then, bro.” 

Papyrus looked up at him, still a little shaken. Then, as if only now becoming aware of his posture, he suddenly sat up straight, allowing his legs to drop back down into the water.

"SO... WHEN WE FULLY TURN... WE LOSE CONTROL, TOO?"

"... but we got you back _in_ control!" Frisk protested, immediately (The taller skeleton perked up a little at this). "It... it took a while. But you managed to wake up!"

Undyne blinked. "Hey, yeah. At the tail-end of things, both of you managed to snap out if it, yeah? I mean - lotta screaming on Frisk's part - and you're gonna have to fill me on on how you did it, Sans, because I was kinda blacked out."

The smaller skeleton pondered a moment. His grin became amused.

"... i heard somethin' familiar."

Papyrus blinked. "FAMILIAR?"

The smaller skeleton chuckled, scratching his head.

"... not sure if that's all it comes down to... but i think that's something that helps." He paused. "... feels like safety, probably."

His grin darkened. "heh. that makes sense."

There was a brief pause, as Sans seemed to mutter something under his breath.

Undyne raised her eyebrow. "What're you talking about?"

Sans seemed to pause, as if debating on what to say. Then he looked over to Frisk, who blinked. The skeleton, despite his default smile, looked hesitant. Almost guilty, even.

“...sorry about this in advance, kiddo. maybe cover your eyes.”

He placed his hands in his pockets, his right eye flickering blue. There was the smallest flicker of yellow in his pupil, and suddenly, Frisk didn't feel so well.

“…let’s see if i got any _left_.”

Papyrus blinked. “ANY WHAT?”

The answer came in a hum, and then a warping whine as something quite large materialized beside Sans. Undyne summoned her spear, and both Papyrus and Frisk scrambled back in surprise.

It was a large, monstrous skull - precisely the same as Gaster’s own weaponry.

The human made no move to cover their eyes, but seeing the weapon hovering next to Sans in particular wasn’t the most comforting sight.

“WHAT THE _HELL??_ ” Undyne glared over at Sans, who was staring over at the weapon, nonplussed. “How many _more_ things have you just kept to yourself?”

“hey, it’s not like i tell any fib-ulas.” Sans shrugged, with a grin. “but yeah…” He examined his claws, then looked back up at the skull.

“feels weird, looking at this now.”

The skull turned to face its master, white rings glowing within its sockets.

Frisk couldn’t help but feel sick for a different reason.

“this is what we call a gaster blaster.” He explained. “though, i just call ‘em ‘blasters, nowadays. not a fan of the original name.”

Undyne stood up, approaching it cautiously. She dismissed her spear.

“Gaster Blaster, huh?” She frowned, studying it closely. “… looks exactly like what Gaster turned you into.”

“… and that’s the idea.” Sans said, one of his eyes flickering blue.

Frisk gripped their sleeve. They didn’t like where this was going.

“gaster created these guys, himself. one of his pet projects that he invested wayy too much time and energy into. more than what was healthy, probably.” He made a face. “they’re not sentient - they have no real souls or will of their own.” He patted the Blaster on the nose, and it chirped in response. “...but it’s important to keep them feeling safe.”

Frisk frowned at the specifics. _Safe_?

Sans withdrew his hand, and the Blaster floated there, drifting a little from side to side as if fidgeting.

“they’re pretty _nervous_ , otherwise.”

“NERVOUS?” Papyrus echoed, staring hard at the Blaster. Sans put another reassuring hand on the weapon, and it stilled, content.

“if they’re on their own. if they haven’t got someone to tell them what to do.” Sans stated. His sockets dimmed.

“they _need_ a magic connection to a leader, or else they start, uh… losing it a bit. they start having a bit of a meltdown."

Frisk found themself looking at Papyrus.

"the more nervous they get, the more aggressive they are. they lose all control and start blasting everything nearby that looks dangerous.”

Sans frowned. “bit of a design flaw, if you ask me. but apparently, it’s so nobody else could hijack the weapon. a failsafe, until their leader regains hold of them.” He shrugged. “figured out to use ‘em _myself_ , but i guess they have a preference for their creator.”

After a moment, he dismissed the Blaster. Frisk couldn't help but let out a breath of relief at its disappearance. Even when it was docile, their blank, staring features were not a nice sight.

“So, what does this have to do with what’s happened to you and Papyrus?” Undyne asked, her voice low.

Frisk swallowed. They had a feeling that she’d already figured out the answer, and that she was ready to rip up boulder a from the ground because of it. The human, on the other hand, clutched the fabric of their shirt, as they reached the same conclusion.

“in a nutshell?” Sans shrugged. “gaster's not playing around. we're just arsenal to him."

He closed his eyes.

"he's basically tried to make us into blasters. temperament included.”

There was a heavy silence. Frisk slowly looked up at Papyrus. He did not respond, remaining expressionless. After a moment, he took in a deep breath and let it out, finally glancing at Frisk in concern.

“the difference is that we actually have wills of our _own_."

Papyrus and Frisk looked back at Sans, who was now focusing on his brother.

"we have our own souls. we’re still in there, somewhere.” Sans reassured. “we don’t _need_ someone to direct us to calm us down, but… we're gonna wind up listening to gaster, most of all. and once the sickness gets going, we're sorta nervous, ourselves.”

He placed his hands in his pockets. “this illness is kinda… keyed to gaster's magical signature, if that makes sense.” He glanced down at one of his clawed hands, with a frown.

“... He's influencing you guys.” Undyne said, and Frisk practically felt the rage radiating off of her. Papyrus was suddenly staring down hard at the ground.

“yeah.” He thought for a moment. “though, not sure if his influence is as strong as it  _could_ be."

Frisk blinked. "What do you mean?"

"eh, thinkin' to myself." Sans looked down at the human, shrugging. "i just know the closer he is, the worse it gets.”

Pausing, he looked over at Papyrus, who was shaking his head rapidly to snap out of whatever thoughts he was having.

"by the way bro, got a favor to ask."

The taller skeleton blinked, a little dazed. "W-WHAT IS IT?"

There was a tense silence, as pressure seemed to mount in the cavern.

Then, Sans grinned.

"i want you to _chill_."

Papyrus' tense expression suddenly turned to irritation.

"i mean, you're doing a perfectly good job of that with the river and all, but - "

"SANS!" The taller skeleton groaned. "BE SERIOUS! CAN'T WE GET THROUGH ONE SINGLE DAY WITHOUT YOU JOKING AR-"

"i'm being completely serious."

The humor had left his tone, and Papyrus' glare vanished.

"i need you to try staying calm, bro." He said. "because, well - from my experience, i'm pretty sure the doc's _counting_ on you being afraid."

Frisk fiddled with their shirt. "... the nervousness?"

"yep. no better way to stop someone from thinking if they're afraid. part of the mutagen." Sans' grin turned bitter, his eyesockets going completely dark. “gaster can  _use_  that. "

He stared hard at his brother. "and i don't want you to _let_ him, papyrus. capisce?"

The taller skeleton seemed hesitant. "O-OF COURSE... BUT... BUT WHAT IF I -"

"no buts, pap." Sans said. "no doubts." He tilted his head. "since when does the great papyrus doubt himself?"

"Since never." Frisk said, giving the skeleton a patient smile.

“just ignore it. stay calm.” Sans said. “just remember, bro - it’s _not_ part of you, okay?”

“Of course it isn’t, Pap!” Undyne slapped Papyrus on the shoulder, causing his legs to buckle a little. “You’re not gonna let some asshole take advantage of you like this, are you?”

The taller skeleton seemed to hesitate for a moment, before clenching his fists and standing up tall.

“C-CERTAINLY NOT! I CAN’T LET SOMETHING LIKE THIS GET THE BEST OF ME!”

Sans nodded. “that’s more like it, bro.”

Frisk could help but feel a little relieved, seeing Papyrus relax. So it really _was_ the sickness that was making him act strangely. Sans had been infected, too - but he clearly had a better handle on it than his brother. Seeing Papyrus nervous and doubtful over the past few hours seemed... strange. It wasn't like him to slouch and curl into himself. It wasn't like him to fidget endlessly.

It wasn't like him to be so... not-Papyrus.

His resolve was still there. His determination was, too. But... Frisk couldn't help but worry about the actual extent of the sickness that Gaster had given their friend. It seemed to have struck a blow that Papyrus still seemed to be reeling from.

“…So what now?” Undyne asked. “I mean, personally, I would _love_ to go after Gaster and beat the crap out of him, but we can’t just take you guys _to_ him.” She frowned.

“… We need keep you guys away from him.” Frisk said, glancing at Papyrus. Sans placed a hand on their shoulder.

“it’s a nice thought, buddy, but he’ll probably be hunting us down pretty easily.” He paused. “though, not like he’s as mobile as he used to be. not even sure what his big scheme is...”

Sans glanced up the stairway.

“… i'm thinking we try making a break for the surface. but, well, subtly.” He glanced over at Undyne. "mind if we swing by alphys' lab?"

“Huh?” Undyne blinked. “I guess?? Not sure if she's there. Tried callin' her earlier, but the signal's messed up." She frowned. "She was meant to shut down the... _CORE..."_

She frowned, suddenly reminded of her partner’s status. She glanced back up the stairs.

"... but it reactivated when we were fighting Gaster." She muttered. "We heard it."

There was a pause.

"...Does that mean she might still be in the Underground?" Frisk asked, quietly.

Undyne's gaze suddenly grew fierce. She suddenly marched up to the human, who stepped back.

 _"Gimme your phone. I'm gonna try callin' her again."_ She snarled, her pointed teeth gritting.

Frisk swallowed, a bead of sweat appearing on their forehead as they protectively clutched the phone in their pocket. It already had a few cracks on the screen from the last time the captain had used it.

With a knowing look, Sans approached, tapping Undyne on the elbow. "ease up, cap."

He looked up at her with a grin, as she glanced back at him with a glare.. “wouldn’t worry too much. al’s pretty resourceful when it comes right down to it. besides, uh - maybe the kid can call her?”

The captain stared at him. Then she sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Nah. No point in using the phone, anyways." She frowned, irritated. "Stupid piece of junk. Stupid glitchy monsters. Stupid  _signals."_

Sans raised an eyebrow at the remark, and Frisk relaxed, releasing the phone. The skeleton was aware of the captain's history with handling objects with more force than necessary. 

Though, all the same, they couldn't help but suddenly be worried for Alphys.

The human had initially believed that they were the only ones still left in the Underground. But if the scientist was still _here_... and _alone_...

Frisk stared down at the ground.

... they really hoped Alphys was safe.

"alright." Sans' voice brought them back to reality. "time to get a move-on."

The smaller skeleton began walking towards the staircase. However, he paused when he noticed that nobody else had moved to follow. In fact, they were all staring at him quizzically - Undyne in particular.

“uh… something up?” He asked over his shoulder.

“BROTHER, WE COULD JUST… ” Papyrus blinked, suddenly hesitant.

“Can’t you teleport us to the lab with your weird, work-dodging powers?” Undyne asked, eye narrowed. "Or the surface for that matter?"

Sans turned to face them, but his expression didn’t change.

His eyes flicked to Frisk, who tensed, holding up their hands in protest.

His eyes flicked back to Papyrus.

“… even if i _could_.” The skeleton began, closing his eyes. “… practically speaking, i don’t think i wanna draw a certain someone’s attention so soon.”

“What do you mean by that?” Undyne asked.

Sans shoved his hands in his pockets.

“besides, the lab’s like, right around the corner.” He continued as if he hadn’t heard Undyne, opening one eye. “and you guys give _me_ flack for being lazy.”

Nobody really knew how to respond to that. Papyrus and Undyne shared a look.

“A-are you checking the lab because… Gaster used to be the Royal Scientist?” Frisk inquired, recalling the mysterious Sprig’s words. “Did he used to work there?”

Sans started to walk towards the stairs. “that sure is a thought.”

“And how the hell do you know the guy, anyway?” Undyne asked, frowning.

“GUYS.”

Frisk and Undyne turned to Papyrus, who had gone to collect his boots.

“I THINK WE’VE ASKED ENOUGH QUESTIONS!” He said simply, putting them back on. “RIGHT NOW, WHAT’S IMPORTANT IS THAT WE FIGURE OUT WHAT GASTER’S UP TO, AND SEE IF THERE’S A CURE FOR SANS AND I!”

“good plan, bro.” Sans said, waving as he walked onwards. "couldn't have said it better, myself."

Papyrus rose from his boots, beaming.

Then, he faltered.

 

* * *

 

**_Cold…_ **

 

_… it was cold._

 

* * *

 

“BUT ACTUALLY… BROTHER…”

 

* * *

 

  _A terrifying blue glow seeped from the darkness of its massive eye sockets._

 

* * *

 

“I-I _WAS_ CURIOUS ABOUT ONE THING - ”

 

* * *

 

  _A deafening roar reverberated through the trees._

 

_Papyrus hid behind the stump as well as he possibly could, his bones rattling uncontrollably._

 

* * *

 

“another time, pap.” The smaller skeleton said, curtly. “we got things to do.”

He didn't even look back at him. Papyrus opened his mouth to protest...

 

* * *

 

  _“… OKAY. ANOTHER TIME! I CAN WAIT.”_

 

* * *

 

... then, he closed it.

Glancing questionably at Papyrus, Undyne began to follow Sans, but Frisk glanced back to see the skeleton rooted to the spot, staring hard at his hands, deep in thought. The human couldn’t help but feel some sense of unease. The same kind that they’d felt since they had first seen the sick Papyrus.

Another flicker of orange lit up his eye sockets, and he shut them, curling his hands into fists and taking a deep breath.

The skeleton’s hands lowered to his sides, and he stood up straight, staring straight forward.

“… IT’S NOT A PART OF ME.” He repeated softly to himself.

Then, he dashed forward to catch up with the rest of the group.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“No, no, no…”

Yellow claws frantically scrambled across the console keypad. Another loud negative tone sounded, and the console flashed red. The frayed wires that she had pulled out and rearranged sparked, and she withdrew her hand with a flinch.

Alphys looked at the radio still placed in her lab coat pocket. Still static. She had attempted to call both her superiors and Undyne multiple times, but even with the main energies of the CORE offline, there was something strongly interfering with the signals.

Alphys gave a heavy sigh, the adrenaline rush from earlier wearing off in her frustration.

“…perfect.”

She was locked in, and nobody else knew. Whoever was out there had installed some kind of manual override that even she hadn’t been _aware_ of. Used the systems in ways that she'd never seen them be used. She’d need to do some digging to see if she could manually override it herself, but for now, she was stuck.

She held up her cellphone. It wouldn’t be beyond her to blow up the lock or try and overload the system with her own electricity-based magic - but she also wasn’t sure about drawing the attention of whoever had decided to keep the CORE in its strange state.

She didn’t know what to think of that strange monster.

He’d been heralded by the electronic screech, the dark star in the core chamber pulsating with violet energy. Fearful on what was happening (was the CORE about to explode?!) she had ran and hid, only to bear witness to a strange, hominid being glitching into existence.

And a large, horribly-shaped skull.

She frowned.

… that almost resembled the DT extractor down in the depths of her lab, if she really thought about it.

There’d been a really weird air about the man, that was for sure. A weird, but familiar kind of air. Like from down in the True Labs where everything felt cold, constricted and then cursed. The man seemed like one big manifestation of a bad memory.

She took in a deep breath.

“Alright… okay. Okay.”

She had to keep it together. She wasn’t quite sure what this man was up to, nor what he’d done, exactly. But when she’d first seen him, he’d had a platoon of the strange skulls, simply summoning them all before him. She wasn’t certain of their function, but Alphys was fairly confident that they were not harmless in the slightest.

She’d almost considered trying to speak with him. Perhaps he was reasonable? Perhaps she was jumping the gun on judgement? After all, she knew a thing or two about misunderstandings and first impressions, especially with the Amalgamates… perhaps he wasn’t as bad or as scary as he seemed?

Alphys had considered lifting the lid off the trash can…

… right up until the strange man had suddenly mentioned Papyrus (of all people) by name.

And she’d suddenly wanted to hide all the more. The tone he’d used, the fact that he was talking directly to one of the unresponsive skulls - it simply gave her more of a chill than before.

Why was he talking about _Papyrus_? And what had the man meant by “office”?

She hadn’t dared move from the can when he’d suddenly vanished. The being had reappeared within minutes, and it was only about twenty minutes after he’d left after saying something about ‘Waterfall’ that Alphys had found it safe enough to climb out of the can.

Had he meant the offices in the lower part of the complex? They were inaccessible - locked down. They had been for a very long time, a while before she had been appointed as Royal Scientist.

Nobody had really informed her why, so she’d simply stopped asking. The CORE was her responsibility, but she’d only really been authorised to manage the control panel and maintenance. She hadn’t ever been down there, herself. The facility itself was a mystery to most monsters.

During the strange man’s absence, Alphys had chosen to try reactivating the CORE - within stable parameters, of course. Ultimately, she was attempting to get rid of the dark star. If that was the cause of all the signals being interrupted, she needed to find a way to deactivate it entirely - some citizens may potentially have been left behind - not to mention, she was completely out of contact with her superiors.

With her electricity magic, Alphys had initiated the activation sequence for the console. She’d figured that introducing the fusion emitters just enough to destabilise the core would make the star flicker out of existence.

But it had protested. It had flickered and pulsed and twisted, and moments later, she had heard that electronic screech and fled the room.

The man had appeared again - only this time, he had been alone. No terrifying skulls, nothing. He was falling apart, flickering, twitching and sagging as he pulled himself forward.

He’d dragged himself desperately to the control panel and completely nullified her efforts.

The star stabilised.

 _He_ stabilised.

And Alphys, having seen enough, had fled.

And now, here she was.

Alphys turned to examine the room she was in.

There wasn’t much to see. It was small, compact - probably a repurposed closet. There was a generator that had stopped working, most likely one of the backup generators that she’d used for her measuring instruments.

Her eyes fell onto an air vent.

She sighed.

It would probably be the quietest means of escape. She was small enough to fit in trash cans, she was probably small enough for these vents.

Summoning a screwdriver from her inventory, she got to work. The grating fell away easily, and she climbed inside, flipping open her cellphone for a light source.

To her relief, she moved easily through the ventilation. No narrow choke points, no surprise blockages. Alphys was pretty sure she wanted to find a way back up to the first floor, where she could easily exit the CORE itself, or at least find a way to get into contact with the Guard, now that she knew that the strange man clearly wasn’t the friendliest.

She reached the first crossroads, and thankfully, one of the available vents was pointing upwards. It would be a difficult climb, but her claws were quite useful, even on sheer or metal surfaces.

As she placed her cellphone in her mouth to free her hands, however, she found her gaze drawn to the ventilation passage leading downwards. There was a violet flicker of light, a few floors down at the very bottom of the shaft.

Alphys blinked.

Weird. She was pretty sure that was the same light as the CORE, having been staring at it for hours in the observation room. But as far as she knew, that was the only observation chamber in the facility.

She looked up the vent shaft, again.

Then down at the flickering light.

She began to sweat a little. Did she try going for help? Or did she go deeper into the facility and look for another means to power the CORE back to full functionality? The rest of the CORE’s layout was unknown to her - and from what she’d seen, the strange man and the dark star were connected.

She looked down at the flickering light. With a grunt, she stretched a leg out to keep herself steady on the side of the vent, and let herself slowly slide downwards.

Alphys needed to know more about the situation.

After all, she had a feeling that there was very little room for mistakes, here.


	9. A Talk

A quiet wind drifted through the caverns of Waterfall, making the typha reeds quiver, slightly. 

The huge, underground river drifted slowly, as if thick and viscous - an inky blackness, occasionally reflecting the glowing crystals embedded upon the cavern ceiling, high above. It was cold. Silent.

The dark water lapped at the stilts of a suspended, wooden walkway.

A low, electric buzz suddenly seemed to sound around the cavern. The wind stopped blowing, and a grey figure began to materialise upon the walkway. Transparent, and glitching slightly, the figure moved forward to the water’s edge, staring down into the lake.

Even when the monster had formed defined features - a head, four spikes, a tail and two legs - and seemed to materialise properly, they had no reflection staring back at them.

**“… Oh.”**

The monster rose up to her full height, staring across the lake with blank eyes.  
****

**“… I was hoping… something was different.”**

The hum grew louder, developing into an electronic whine. She did not move, even when she felt the presence of something forming behind her. She gave a slow blink, as the shadows appeared to grow more stark - accompanied by the sound of someone dragging themselves closer and closer to her.  
****

**"But nothing's changed at all.”** She said, simply. **“… in fact, you’re looking worse than ever.”**

Doctor Gaster, slowly reforming into something more tangible, appeared beside her. His white face was melting, but it seemed to slowly be springing back, as if the fibres in his face were pulling the melted parts back in.  
****

**_I feel quite well, as a matter of fact._** He said, looking up at the cavern ceiling. **_It is… nice to finally feel temperature again. You are missing out._**

The grey monster did not face him.  
****

**“Nobody will remember you.”** She said, her voice deadpan. **“Everything was fine without you. The world's a much richer place without you in it.”**

Gaster looked down at her.  
****

**_I do not need to be remembered._** He said, flatly. **_I just need to exist._**

He tilted his head. **_Will you help me with that, Owel?_**  
****

The monster continued to stare out at the lake. Something violet began to flicker on the back of her spines. Her gaze remained blank.  
****

**“I don’t have a choice.”**

A hand plunged into the back of her head. Her expression remained steadfast through the process, even when the hand was yanked out with a violet shard in its grip, and her form began glitching, fading and deteriorating.  
****

Her head slowly rotated around, to see Gaster plunging the fragment into his chest. His form stabilised even more, now distinctly gaining arms - one pair of hands now connected to their ends, with the remaining two hovering behind his shoulders. The blackness of his form now seemed more solid, the slightest bit of wispiness remaining.

He observed his hands, satisfied.

**_Almost there. My thanks, old friend._ **

Placing them into his pockets, he turned on the spot and began to walk away.  
****

A chuckle sounded.

 ****He paused, turning to look over his shoulder at his rapidly deteriorating companion. She stood facing him, her facial features beginning to warp, and though her stare remained blank, a sharp-toothed, mangled grin suddenly appeared on her face. A high pitched laugh shook her deteriorating form.

 **“You’re not here."**  She giggled. **"You’re not even _close_ to here, doctor.”**

Gaster blinked, turning completely to face her.  
****

**_A laugh, Owel?_ **He smiled, amused. ** _How very unlike you._ **

**_“All_ ** _**this**_ **_is very unlike you, Doctor.”_ **  
****

Gaster's face fell. She tilted her head, eyes wide and grin still present.

 **“Keep searching for your pieces, Gaster.”** Her face continued to distort, pixelate. Her large, toothy grin remained visible. **“Soon, you won’t even know where to _look_.”**

She dissolved into grey particles, the electronic screeching echoing around the caverns. 

Gaster stood alone at the water’s edge.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Dark, darker yet darker.

Frisk tensed, drifting to the back of the group in fear.

It wasn’t the darkness that frightened them. But low visibility sometimes meant getting stepped on with their size.

“Ughh.” Groaned Undyne. “Can’t see a thing in here.”

“yeah - guess she switched off her backup generator for now.” Sans said. “one sec.”

A soft blue light illuminated the confines of Alphys’ lab. Frisk glanced over to their right now see Sans’ eye glowing brightly in the darkness.

“doubles as a party trick.” He shrugged, walking forward.

The four of them had entered Alphys’ lab moments ago. Like the rest of the Underground, it was without power. The convenience of electronic sliding doors was no longer a possibility.

Thankfully, Undyne’s strength was.

“ARE YOU SURE ALPHYS WON’T MIND YOU TRASHING HER LAB LIKE THIS?” Papyrus asked, looking back at what remained of the front lab door (that now lay scorched and dented upon the lab floor tiles). “I DON’T IMAGINE THAT’S GREAT GIRLFRIEND MATERIAL.”

“Not like she’s using this place much, anymore.” Undyne looked around.

She cringed, her earfins drooping, slightly.

“...Dammit. She really _hasn't_  packed.” She rubbed at her temple. “She really _is_ still in the Underground, huh?"

Frisk blinked. "Maybe she decided to leave her things?"

"No way." Undyne was peering up at the second floor, at the array of shelves. "There's no _way_ she'd leave all her box sets behind."

Cringing, Frisk turned away and watched as Sans wandered on ahead, past Alphys’ computer desk (They couldn’t help but notice him quickly glancing into the wastebasket as he continued on).

He suddenly stopped at the bathroom door.

Frisk swallowed.

“You’re… going down _there_?”

Sans glanced back at them. “well, yeah. backup generator’s down there. among other things that should help us out.”

“IN THE BATHROOM, SANS?” Papyrus asked, eyes narrowed.

“… It’s just a cover, Papyrus.” Undyne said, notably a bit somber.

Frisk briefly wondered if the captain had been down in the True Labs herself, after Alphys had come clean about the amalgamates.

“OH. WELL, I GUESS THAT MAKES SENSE.” Papyrus said, brightly. “MONSTERS DON’T NEED BATHROOMS TO BEGIN WITH.”

“What?! You gotta stay _clean_ , Pap!” Undyne slapped the skeleton on the shoulder. He staggered, his eyes grew wide and startled, and the captain blinked as they caught sight of his eyes flaring orange.

“OW.” He rubbed at his temple, the light subsiding.

“might wanna tone down the roughhousing.” Sans said, without looking back. “he’s sick, remember?”

He looked back at the door, and with a wave of his hand, summoned a bone near the edge of the doorframe. He rotated it, and it began to pry the sliding door open.

“i’ll be quick.”

Frisk blinked. “Y-you’re going alone?”

“NOT HAPPENING!” Papyrus said, firmly, with a start. “WE’RE _ALL_ COMING WITH YOU!”

Sans shook his head. “i’d rather you guys stay up here. keep watch for anyone who might come and the like.” His eyes landed on Papyrus. “besides, bro - on the off-chance Gaster does come a-lookin’, probably wouldn’t be the best idea if it was just us two together.”

Papyrus blinked, slowly. “I-I SEE…”

Thinking a moment, his gaze fell onto the human.

“THEN _FRISK_ SHOULD GO WITH YOU!” He said, firmly. “IF PAST EXPERIENCE IS ANY INDICATION, THEY’RE VERY GOOD AT KEEPING PEOPLE GROUNDED.”

Undyne made a face. “Geeze, thanks, Papyrus.”

The taller skeleton jumped at her glare. “AAAA! I MEANT FIGURATIVELY!” He held up a finger. “YOU’RE VERY GOOD AT KEEPING PEOPLE GROUNDED LITERALLY! AND THAT’S JUST AS IMPORTANT!”

“Oh, I’ll _ground_ you, alright!” Undyne’s signature grin took up half her face, and Papyrus dashed off with a yelp.

“DON’T TACKLE THE SKELETON!”

Frisk watched the duo run off up the deactivated escalator, smiling a bit. Undyne seemed determined to keep Papyrus in good spirits. After all this talk of sicknesses and Gaster, the skeleton probably sorely needed it.

They turned back to Sans, who had been watching the situation in silence, a content grin on his face. Then, aware that Frisk was staring at him, he gave a quick shrug.

“alright, kid. guess you’re with me.”

He ducked through the door, Frisk trailing after them, their face scrunched in thought.

“Sans… how do you know about the True Labs?”

The skeleton stopped at the elevator doors, looking at them thoughtfully. Then, he reached backwards without turning around.

“heads up, kid.”

Frisk gave a startled yelp as the bone used to pry open the first door whipped past them. It arrived in Sans’ grasp, and vanished, tucked back into his inventory.

“let’s get a move on, yeah?”

The human was starting to realize that Sans was probably going to deflect these sorts of questions with the same kind of commitment he had to turning almost everything into a pun. They sighed.

Papyrus had been right about Sans never telling anybody anything. He’d just stuck with what was absolutely necessary to share - and even that was a little debatable.

“Are you sure about going down here?” They asked. “If Gaster finds you here…”

That warranted a look from Sans, who grinned back at them nonchalantly.

“i really don’t think gaster’s any place nearby.”

Frisk blinked.

“anyhow. if you got through to papyrus, then i don’t see much to worry about.”

Sans’ eye lit up, and another bone attack materialised between the closed elevator doors - prying them open to reveal nothing but blackness and the faintest outline of an elevator cable.

Sans and Frisk peered down the shaft, the skeleton placing his hand against his brow.

“… well, maybe a little to worry about. bear with me a little, kid.”

A PING sounded, and Frisk felt the BLUE effect on their soul once more. They found themselves hovering next to Sans as he approached the elevator cable. His eye lit up the shaft, bathing the passage in a soft blue light.

With his hands in his pockets, he summoned a bone attack, then stepped onto it. He summoned another, serving as a second step. Then a third.

Before he took another step, however, the first bone moved below him to serve as the fourth step. The bones continued to alternate in this manner as he descended, strolling nonchalantly down into the darkness with Frisk hovering nearby.

The human blinked. “… Are those all the bones you have?”

“i like to economise.” The skeleton said, shrugging. “undyne should _tri_ it, sometime.”

Frisk giggled, despite themselves.

They reached the bottom fairly quickly, and Sans planted his feet on the top of the elevator box. He opened the top elevator hatch, dismissed his bones and swung inside. Frisk found themselves landing gently through the hatch onto the ground, before the BLUE effect vanished from their soul.

After he’d pried the downstairs elevator door open, Sans stepped out into the gloom of the True Laboratory. Frisk glanced around, scanning the hall. The backup lighting was off, casting everything into darkness, but Sans’ glowing eye remained an efficient source of light.

“not scared, are you kid?” The skeleton asked. Frisk looked around a little, recalling the sickly green and dim lighting they’d seen during their last visit, and the company they’d encountered while traversing the gloom of the facility.

They found themselves shaking their head.

“It was kinda spooky, but I’m okay.” They smiled. “There was nobody bad down here. Just some scared monsters.”

Sans thought about that for a moment. “yeah…”

They wandered down the hall, passing by the dark monitors that lined the wall. None of them activated as they walked past, though after a while Frisk couldn’t help but think of Alphys, and the time that they’d seen her down in this deteriorating place.

It hadn’t been easy for her to face her own demons. She’d made many mistakes, seen herself as irredeemable. In the end, however, she’d pushed onwards. She’d managed to find a kind of strength in herself that allowed her to face all the things she had done.

Frisk hoped that she was alright. With no communication at all, a lot of things were left up in the air…

The generator room doors were still open from the last time Frisk had descended into the labs. Though as they approached, they noticed that the elevator chamber that connected the two hallways only had the elevator cable present.

Sans peered up the shaft, frowning.

“ah, geez. guess this isn’t gonna be as easy as i thought.”

Frisk blinked as he stepped over the shock absorbers at the bottom of the elevator shaft.

“We can’t climb up?”

“do i look like the kind of guy who likes climbing?” Sans chuckled. “in all seriousness, this elevator’s always been a bit of a road block.” He continued on to the generator room, Frisk trailing after. “lotta safety precautions and security.”

“Why’s that?”

“it’s connected to king asgore’s castle.” Sans shrugged. “kind of a big deal.”

He paused. “you can’t operate it unless you’re inside it. and there’d be no way inside unless i blasted it. and, well, considering how finicky the machinery already is - if i tried that, i wouldn’t be surprised if i made it even more non-operational.”

Sans watched as Frisk leapt over the shock absorbers.

“so, guess we gotta be smart about this.” he added. “either way, we still need power. wouldn’t hurt to have this generator running, CORE or no CORE.”

Frisk nodded, suddenly putting the pieces together. “So, if we got someone to get to the elevator upstairs, they can just send it down - and we’re be right next to the surface!”

Sans nodded. “that’s the idea.” He blinked. “hold up. why didn’t we just call someone?”

Frisk gave a heavy, long-suffering sigh, and the skeleton raised an eyebrow at the reaction.

“whoa. what’s with your _tone_ , kid?”

The human removed the cellphone from their pocket, again dialling in Toriel’s number. Once more, nothing but static flowed through the speaker.

Sans’ grin grew thoughtful. “huh. how long’s that been happenin’?”

“… since this morning, actually.” Frisk said, hanging up. “It’s not just my phone. Something’s been messing with the signal in the whole Underground, so far.”

“guess that explains a few things.” He scratched his head. “alright. guess we do this the hard way.”

Sans turned to face the generator. Staring at it for a few moments in silence, he then approached the contraption, grabbing a panel and swinging it open.

His eye seemed to glow brighter as he inspected the interior.

“huh. looks like al maintained all this pretty well.”

Frisk watched as he dug around the insides with precision, as if he’d done it a million times before. They were even more startled when the hum of power reverberated around the lab, the pale, dim fluorescent lights of flickering on.

Sans continued to tinker with the fuses. “don’t want any of these to blow. i’d hate to be halfway up the elevator shaft and suddenly lose power again.”

The human watched, for a moment.

“… you know all these machines really well.”

“read up on them.” Sans said, waving a hand. Frisk fidgeted a bit.

“… How many times have you been down here?”

“not enough times to care about counting.” The skeleton shrugged. He stood up, slamming the panel shut.

“alrighty. we got about 24 hours of juice left in this thing. used sparingly, of course.” He looked over his shoulder with a grin. “on foot, new home’s about three hours from here. with the elevator, i’d say twenty minutes.”

He stood back, scratching his head. “guess that means we gotta toss up on who goes to the other side and helps the rest up.”

His grin grew weary. “… probably can’t be me or papyrus.”

Frisk nodded, nervously. Then, began to fidget again.

“Hey… Sans?”

“yeah?”

“…How do you know Gaster isn’t coming to get you guys _now_?”

Sans looked thoughtful. “truth is, i don’t. not sure what he’s thinking, or why he hasn’t decided to come back for us quite yet.”

He walked away from the generator, as Frisk thought.

“Then… I don’t get why you’re not worried.”

Sans looked down at the tiles. “i guess you could say i could sense him if he was nearby. or… poking his head into one of those shortcuts i like to use. he can't exactly use them by himself.”

He raised an eyebrow. “'least, not without him being turned into swiss cheese.” He said, thoughtfully. "guess that didn't stop him from tryin', earlier. though... things aren't exactly normal at the moment. i can't even use 'em myself, right now. otherwise, i woulda just teleported on down here."

Frisk blinked. “How come you can't?”

Sans’ eye lit up, and his gaze flicked around, as if he could see something Frisk couldn’t.

“the rifts are... actin' weird." He said. “something's messing with their stability something fierce. not too confident about dipping my toe in.” He shook his head. “if i use ‘em myself, not sure if i’ll end up where i wanna go."

Sans frowned. "not to mention, pretty sure he can sense when i'm using them. i'd prefer to lay low.”

His eye flickered back to normal, and he grinned.

“trust me, if i keep an ear out, i can hear him coming a mile away. and i bet papyrus could, too.” His smile grew grim.

“Because of the sickness.” Frisk said, suddenly somber.

“unfortunately." Sans shrugged. "but so long as i just don’t freeze up long enough for him to get ahold of me… like back then - it'll be okay, kid.”

He reached out, giving the human a small noogie. "so, stop worrying your hairy little head about it. you'll go bald." He jerked a thumb to the top of his (slightly pointed) skull. "trust me."

They meandered back through the hall, Frisk trying in vain to fix their hair a little. However, before they backtracked to the elevator shaft that led up to the surface lab, Sans stopped at one of the wall monitors as it flickered on.

“... by the way, kid.”

Frisk was startled at his tone. It was familiar - a generally friendly, carefree kind of tone.

Laced with something a little accusatory.

“how’d papyrus and undyne happen to know about the whole teleportation thing? that, uh… ain’t really common knowledge, there.”

Frisk swallowed. They’d never been sure about which abilities Sans wanted to keep secret and which were completely okay to talk about.

Their thoughts suddenly went back to the start of the day, during their talk with Papyrus as they were moving around the knick-knacks in his room. It seemed like a very long time ago, now - but now, all they could clearly remember was a quiet kind of concern on the taller skeleton’s face.

“…Papyrus… actually _knew_ about it.” They said.

It was the truth. While Sans’ ability to teleport was common knowledge to Frisk, for less-than-favourable reasons, Papyrus had indeed told them about his brother that morning.

“he knew.” Sans repeated. Frisk couldn’t pick up on his tone, but it no longer seemed hostile, at least.

“… I think he knows a _lot_ of things.” The human said. “Not… everything. but a few things.”

They looked down. “We were trying to figure out how Gaster was getting around so fast. We… figured out he was using _you_ to do it.”

The smaller skeleton was silent for a moment, appearing a little cautious.

“… gotcha.”

His eye sockets dimmed into black. Frisk initially decided to drop the subject, but was surprised when Sans looked up at them, his eyes regaining their light.

“… what else does he know?”

The human blinked, frowning as they tried to recall. “He knows about your Blasters. He… didn’t know what they were called, or where they came from, but…”

Frisk shook their head, a thought occurring to them. “Maybe _he_ should be telling you about this.”

“nah.”

Sans began to continue his walk down the hall, and the human trailed after.

“… he’s got enough on his plate. not gonna ask all that of him. especially not now.”

His eyes narrowed, and Frisk couldn’t help but compare his grin to some kind of snarl.

“...not with gaster getting to him like this.”

The human blinked, noting Sans’ eye flickering blue. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, before shoving his hands back into his pockets, head bowed.

The anger seemed to pass, and when the skeleton’s eyes reopened, they seemed to be back to normal.

“alright. let’s get out of here.”

He looked up at the human, who suddenly seemed to be pale. He raised an eyebrow, then seemed a bit concerned.

“whoa… kid - you okay there?”

Frisk slowly rose a hand, pointing to something behind him, wide-eyed.

Sans spun around, his left eye blazing blue.

A tall, white figure loomed over them both. It almost resembled a spoon - a lithe, white body and an oval-shaped head. A quiet kind of dial tone seemed to sound as it reached for them with a single limb, that seemed to merely be peeling away from the white mass.

Sans blinked. He turned fully to face the creature, extending a hand in return.

“hey, buddy. give us a warning. no need to _shake_ us up, there.” He shook the creature’s limb in greeting as he spoke, grinning.

Frisk blinked. It was an Amalgamate… or at least, they thought it was.

They’d seen it twice in their foray into the True Labs. Once, during their cautious approach towards a shower curtain - and twice when they had decided to take a brief nap in one of the beds.

They had felt its dreadful presence as they lay there on the mattress - only to be pleasantly surprised (and incredibly relieved) when it had merely tucked them in, petted them on the head, and vanished once more.

Frisk frowned, a little confused.

“… I thought all the Amalgamates left to go back to their families…”

Sans looked up at the figure. “yeah. guess this one decided to stick around?” He raised his eyebrows. “you got anyplace to go back to, buddy?”

The figure did not respond. Its featureless face seemed to peer more closely at the smaller skeleton, who remained unfazed.

“… guess they’re not talkative.” He said, shrugging.

Frisk watched as it drifted past Sans, fading a little as it did so.

“Should we bring them upstairs?” They asked. The skeleton watched as the creature meandered down the hall, eventually picking up speed and disappearing around the corner.

“don’t think they’re interested.” He said, raising an eyebrow. “might just be nicer for them, here.”

He turned back to Frisk. “think we should go upstairs before undyne and pap start trying to make their own way down here.”

They made their way back down the hall, their steps fading down the tiles until silence consumed the True Labs once more.

In their wake, the amalgamate faded back into existence, staring after them.

Two lithe, white arms reached up towards its featureless face. The ends spit into fingers that traced out where its temples would be.

 _Lorem ipsum docet._ It whispered, in a voice that could not be heard by the naked ear.

It bowed down in sorrow, arms dropping and melting back into its body, and began to dissolve into white glitches.

… _What has happened to you, old friend…?_

 

 

* * *

 

 

About ten minutes earlier, a loud clang rang out in the darkness of Alphys’ upper lab. 

_“OW!”_

Undyne screeched to a halt in pursuit of Papyrus. The skeleton had tripped and fallen facedown on the lab floor, his foot caught on the end of the deactivated conveyor belt.

“Whoa! Pap, you okay?”

“I’M ALRIGHT!” The skeleton sprung up to his feet, though found himself stumbling, again. “PERHAPS WE SHOULDN’T BE RUNNING AROUND IN THE DARK.”

“Whaaat? It’s just another stage of training!!” She grinned. “Don’t let the dark stop you!! _Develop your night-vision!!!”_

“WE DON’T HAVE NIGHT AROUND HERE.” Papyrus rebuked, eyebrows raised. He winced, lifting up his foot off the floor. “…OW.”

Undyne abandoned her gusto. “Alright, alright. Lemme see.”

“IT’S FINE! I’M FINE, UNDYNE.” He insisted, waving his hands. “IT’S STILL JUST A BIT HARD TO WALK LIKE THIS. LET ALONE RUN.”

“Yeah…” Undyne crossed her arms. “Guess you’ve gotta relearn some stuff with those feet.”

She couldn’t see his expression clearly in the darkness, but she noted his shoulders tensing a little again.

She frowned, summoning an energy spear. It illuminated the second floor of Alphys’ lab, revealing her bookshelves of ‘human history’ and her workbench. Papyrus jumped at the sight of the spear, as she jammed it into the floor tiles, cracks webbing outwards.

“Okay, there! No more tripping.” She grinned.

“WOWIE! THANK YOU, UNDYNE!” Papyrus glanced around at the lab, his eyes falling onto the large Mew Mew Kissie Cutie poster that loomed over Alphys’ workbench.

“IS THIS THE DEEP AND EMOTIONAL CARTOON FOR BABIES YOU KEEP TALKING ABOUT?” He asked, brightly.

“OH MY _GOD!!_ ” Undyne yelled. “ANIME IS _ART_ , PAPYRUS! And we’re gonna make you watch every single _season!”_ She grabbed a flailing Papyrus by the waist, performing a suplex.

_“NYAAAAGGH!!”_

She suddenly winced as pain bloomed in her arms. Sitting up from the floor, she realised that the spikes on Papyrus’ spine had dug into her forearms during the manoeuvre, leaving shallow gashes on her scaly skin.

“OH MY GOD!” The skeleton leapt to his feet, wide-eyed. “U-UNDYNE, I’M SO - ”

“Nah, cut it out, Pap.” She focused on the gashes, a light green aura emanating from one of her palms. “Nothin’ a little healing magic can’t fix.”

The skeleton hovered nearby, as Undyne quickly mended the gashes on her arms. She sighed.

“Man. Can’t wait for you to get rid of those spikes, huh, Pap?” She grinned over her shoulder.

Then, she frowned.

Papyrus was staring at the floor again, in that same nervous way he’d done in the past few hours. Completely silent, as if lost in his own little world.

Undyne tilted her head.

“Uh… you okay there?”

The skeleton slumped. “I… REALLY DON’T THINK I AM, UNDYNE.” He admitted, twiddling his thumbs.

“Look, it’s not your fault.” She wiped down her arms, now completely healed. “See? All cool.”

Papyrus seemed to be reassured by this, though he still seemed distant. Undyne frowned.

“Hey - what’d we say about not letting this get to you back there?” She said, sternly. “C’mon, Papyrus. You’re stronger than this.”

The skeleton jolted in response.

“I-I KNOW!” He said, blinking. “I’M TRYING NOT TO LET IT GET THE BEST OF ME. REALLY! IF IT’S NOT A PART OF ME, THEN I SHOULD SIMPLY IGNORE IT, LIKE SANS SAID!”

His gaze turned to the floor.

“BUT… I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED BACK THERE.” He admitted, quietly. “WHEN I… WHEN I WASN’T REALLY…”

Undyne frowned. “You mean, the whole fight with Sans?”

Papyrus continued to stare at the tiled floor. It was clean enough to show his reflection, and he made a face at it, perplexed. Then, he slowly walked over to Alphys’ workbench.

He sat down on its edge, hard. Undyne sighed, wandering over to sit down beside him, her elbows resting on her knees.

“Alright, Pap. What’s up?”

The skeleton was silent for a moment. He tugged on his gloves a little, fidgeting.

“IT’S JUST… DURING THE FIGHT, I…”

He focused hard on the ground, perturbed.

“… I WANTED TO HURT SANS, UNDYNE.” Papyrus said, as if having trouble really believing it.  “BECAUSE… BECAUSE I WAS AFRAID HE WOULD GET ME FIRST.”

Undyne was silent.

He looked down. “I’VE NEVER FELT LIKE THAT, BEFORE. NOT ABOUT ANYONE OR ANYTHING” He held his hands. “AND… AND WHEN I SNAPPED OUT OF IT, I - I WAS TERRIFIED THAT I HAD THAT THOUGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE. IT WAS AS IF I WASN’T _THERE_.”

Papyrus frowned, still staring at the floor.

“I DON’T KNOW WHERE I WENT.” He said, softly. “WHERE ELSE COULD I HAVE POSSIBLY GONE? I REMEMBER EVERYTHING, BUT… WHATEVER WAS THERE INSTEAD OF ME COULDN’T REALLY BE ME, RIGHT?”

He looked up at Undyne, suddenly looking quite tired.

“I… I WOULDN’T BE AFRAID OF MY OWN BROTHER. I WOULDN’T WANT TO HURT ANYBODY LIKE THAT… RIGHT?”

The captain stared at him. Then, she leaned back on the bench, splaying her arms behind her.

“… Papyrus, look. I _know_ you’d never hurt Sans. Slacker that he is.” She added, eye narrowed. “I dunno. Those thoughts don’t sound like you… so I wouldn’t think to hard about ‘em, right now.”

The skeleton tensed. “W-WHY NOT?”

“Because, well, they’re just thoughts!” She said, raising her eyebrows. “You’re sick, remember? It’s making you think too much about things that aren’t important. You’re acting kinda weird - freaked out. I’ve _never_ seen you worry this much.”

She thought a moment. “I mean, Sans did say that this sickness makes you _scared_. And, well - being scared _does_ things to people.”

She sat back up again. “Trust me, I’ve seen it in action.” She gave a half smirk. “Someone in-training might be the most talented soldier in the troops - but once they’re in action - bam! Shaking in their boots. Missing every hit. Maybe even screaming.” She rubbed her temples. “All that training and then, once they’re in the field, suddenly they become full-on wimps.”

“… AM I BEING A WIMP?” Papyrus asked, uncertainly.

“Right now? Heck yeah!” Undyne said, crossing her arms. “Dude, I’ve never seen you rattling your bones like this for _this_ long!”

The skeleton frowned. “GEE. THANKS, UNDYNE.”

The captain grinned back, before adopting a more thoughtful expression. “But - if this sickness is working like Sans says it is, then you can’t really help that!” She frowned. “I dunno. If anything, Papyrus… I think you’re really beating yourself up about it. If those thoughts aren’t you, then you shouldn’t pay attention to ‘em right now!”

She shrugged. “And, well, all things considered - besides not being able to follow orders (not like that’s new.” She added, recalling the events with Frisk) you’ve actually been able to keep yourself from really hurting anyone.”

Undyne stood up, turning to face Papyrus. “I mean, it was _your_ idea to keep Frisk nearby to snap you out of it, and that worked!” She thought a moment. “And, well, if it helped to keep a promise, too - I guess there’s that!”

The skeleton blinked up at her.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

“I’m saying you’re figuring things out!” Undyne crossed her arms. “If you’re gonna be stuck like this a while, we gotta work around it!” She slammed a fist into her open palm. “We could ignore it - but maybe we try to tackle this thing head-on!”

She stood up tall, clenching her fists. “It’s still you in there, after all!”

There was a pause.

“I… N-NO…”

The captain turned to look at her friend, who was curling into himself, hugging his knees into his chest. His eyes were beginning to flicker orange.

“THAT WASN’T ME, UNDYNE. I… I DON’T _WANT_ THAT TO BE ME…”

His eyes glowed brighter, and the captain stepped forward, suddenly wide-eyed.

This... was _really_ bothering him, huh?

“Hey… hey.” Undyne grasped his shoulder. “That’s… not what I meant.” She sat down beside him again, internally cursing. “Ugh… how do I put this?”

She stared at the ground, thoughtfully. “I’m not saying that… all that rampaging and stuff was _you_. I’m just saying that if this thing’s gonna be hanging around, then… maybe you should try thinking about how to deal with it?”

There was a silence. Papyrus uncurled himself, shaking his head. The orange light in his eyes faded back to his usual black sockets.

“HONESTLY, UNDYNE - I REALLY DON’T WANT _ANYTHING_ TO DO WITH THIS.” He frowned. “I SIMPLY WANT TO GO BACK TO NORMAL. AS SOON AS I CAN. I DON’T WANT TO GET USED TO IT.”

Undyne withdrew her hand as he sat up a little more.

“… EVEN WHEN I WAS BACK IN CONTROL, I… FELT REALLY TERRIBLE. LIKE I WAS BARELY MANAGING TO STAY AWAKE.”

He observed his claws. “I THOUGHT… WHEN I CHANGED BACK, I WOULD BE MYSELF AGAIN. JUST SPIKY.” Papyrus shook his head. “BUT… BUT I KEEP FEELING SO OFF. I FEEL TIRED AND SCARED… I HARDLY FEEL LIKE ‘MYSELF’ AT ALL.” He looked up at her.

“… yeah. I’ve noticed, man.” Undyne crossed her arms, sitting back down on the desk. Papyrus looked back down to the floor.

“SO… I DON’T WANT TO GET USED TO THIS. I WANT IT TO GO _AWAY_.”

There was a long pause, as Undyne glanced up to the ceiling. Her energy spear flickered a little, as her gaze fixed onto the cracks of the paint.

For a moment, rage flickered across her features as she thought of Gaster.

If Papyrus was stuck with the illness for now - maybe it _was_ best they found a way to manage it. Undyne was a military captain. A strategist. Making use of a bad circumstance was what she did every day.

But Undyne could understand wanting _nothing_ to do with that asshole doctor.

“…Alright. No tackling this head-on, then. We’ll, uh, think of something else. New strategy.”

“…THANK YOU.”

She sighed. “Didn’t mean to make you freak out, Pap. I’m sorry.”

“I-IT’S OKAY!” Papyrus said, sitting up straight. “I FORGIVE YOU… IN FACT, I’M SORRY I FREAKED OUT IN THE FIRST PLACE…” He added, frowning. “IT’S SOMETHING THAT’S HAPPENING A LOT, LATELY.”

“Heh. Yeah…” Undyne leaned back again, looking up at the ceiling. She could see Papyrus out of the corner of her eye, staring in confusion.

“Look… the only thing I really find scary about all this is… well, you _changing_. In your brain, I mean.”

“I’M A SKELETON. I DON’T HAVE A BRAIN.” Papyrus pointed out. (He earned a swift punch to the shoulder.)

“You know what I mean.” Undyne shook her head. “And it’s not even the whole ‘losing control’ part.” She added. “I mean, we can snap you guys out of that if we have to. It’s… well, you _constantly_ being scared.” 

She frowned. “You’re tough. Like, _really_ freaking tough. And I don’t just mean in fights.”

Papyrus tilted his head. “TOUGH IN… WHAT WAY?”

Undyne thought a moment. “I dunno how to describe it without sounding like all wimpy and mushy.” She shrugged. “But it’s an important kind of toughness. The _real_ kind of toughness!”

She clenched her fist. “But I think you’ve forgotten that, somehow… So you better _remember_ it, next time!”

The skeleton blinked. “REMEMBER WHAT?”

“That you’re _Papyrus_!” She grinned. “Look, maybe that sickness is messing with you something fierce - and maybe you’re feeling ten times more wimpy because of it - but it’s still just _you_ , yeah?”

The skeleton yelped as she yanked him into a headlock. “And Papyrus DOESN’T GIVE UP!”

“I-I…” The skeleton stood up, wrestling out of her grip. “I DON’T!” He said, beaming. “I NEVER GIVE UP!”

Undyne leapt to her feet with a roar.  “AND YOU’RE GONNA KICK THIS SICKNESS IN THE _TEETH_!”

“I’M GONNA KICK IT IN THE TEETH!!”

“AND YOU’RE GONNA SHOW IT WHO’S _BOSS_!!”

“EVEN BETTER!! I’M GONNA MAKE IT A SPAGHETTI DINNER!”

“WHAT?? Why the HELL would you make it a dinner??”

“BECAUSE UNBEKNOWNST TO THE SICKNESS, THE SPAGHETTI, IS IN FACT, A TRAP!!”

 _“DIABOLICAL_ , PAPYRUS!! IT’LL _NEVER_ SEE YOU COMING!!”

“NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!”

“NGAAAAAAAHHH!!!”

They sat back down on the desk, in a mess of laughter that took a good few minutes to subside. Soon, silence fell upon them once more - though this time, for the first time in what seemed like ages, it was a comfortable one.

“Look. No matter what you look like, what thoughts you have - all that stuff, you’re always gonna be Papyrus to me, buddy.” Undyne said. “Some stupid evil scientist can’t change that, okay?”

Papyrus blinked, then gave a nod.

“THANK YOU, UNDYNE.” He said, smiling. “I’M… STILL A LITTLE SCARED, IF I’M BEING HONEST.”

He clenched his fists.

“BUT… YOU’RE RIGHT. I’M STILL ME, RIGHT NOW! I’LL DEFINITELY STAY ME!”

He faltered, glancing back at Undyne. “R-RIGHT?”

“Of _course!!_ ” Undyne grinned. “Once we get both you and Sans fixed up, I’m sure you’ll be feelin’ like yourselves, again.”

Suddenly, a hum of electricity sounded from above. The lab lights suddenly flickered on, and Papyrus glanced around, startled.

“Huh. Guess they got the generator working.” Undyne said, grinning. She dismissed her spear, standing up with a stretch. “Took them long enough.”

“I DON’T SUPPOSE ALPHYS WILL MIND HAVING HER TILED FLOOR CRACKED, EITHER.” Papyrus observed, looking at the space where Undyne had planted her spear.

At this, the captain slumped. The skeleton blinked.

“UNDYNE?”

A snarl appeared on her features.

"... She _better_ be okay." She muttered. "If that freaking slime ball lays a hand on her..."

The captain drew a finger across her throat. "... I'll shatter all my Mercy to _pieces."_

Papyrus looked up at her, more concerned than intimidated. Then he stood tall, a fist to his chest.

“NOT TO WORRY! I’M SURE SHE’S OKAY.” He said, with a firm nod. “ALPHYS CAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF!”

Undyne's arm dropped to her side, and she drew in a breath.

"... Yeah." She straightened, her gaze firm. "Yeah! Besides - Gaster’s just been looking for _us."_

She shrugged. “Bet you 5G she's just hanging out near the surface, yeah? Bored and watchin’ anime.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

In the depths of the CORE facility, a disgruntled Alphys came tumbling out of the air vent, landing in a heap on the cold, tiled floor.

“…Ow.”

Reflexively, she summoned her phone again, prepared to access the Undernet - only to again realize signals were down. She sighed, dismissing the phone as she slowly rose to her feet, wincing in pain.

It probably wasn’t healthy to keep updating her status every time something new happened. Old habits died hard. It was just so _validating_ to give a live account of all of her actions and receive comments from strangers who could relate.

Her eyes fell onto the violet light source of the room, and she blinked.

Granted, she wasn’t sure if anyone could relate to _this_.

It was yet another observation chamber to the CORE’s core. It was much further down, almost at level with the water channel at the bottom of the chamber  - the one designed to carry in the cooling ice blocks.

Slowly, she looked around the room. It was well-lit, due to the reinforced glass window to the CORE. Everything was very dusty. Beakers were scattered atop workbenches, and some old papers were stacked on the side of one, next to a small chemistry lab set.

Wringing her hands, her attention was drawn to an open door. She blinked, in confusion.

This was just your typical hinged door. No electronics, no sliding door consoles.

Come to think of it, there seemed to be a few in this room. The only electric door present seemed to be leading out into what she assumed was the main hallway of this level, and that was sealed firmly shut.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she slowly approached the open door, flipping open her cellphone as a light source.

Something glinted in the darkness, and she blinked, her gaze being drawn upwards.

“Oh…”

Security tapes. They lined several towering shelves - row upon row of little black tapes. At the bottom, around face level, was a large monitor.

She stepped into the room. As an afterthought, she closed the door behind her. She didn’t want to take chances with the creepy man out there.

Everything was dusty. She covered her nose in the hopes that she wouldn’t sneeze. Her eyes scanned the labels of each tape. They were all dated in order - but her eyes suddenly fell on a row of tapes that stood out from the others.

… specifically, they seemed to be flickering a little on the spot.

She approached them, wide-eyed. For the most part, they seemed solid. Tangible. It was just… every few seconds, they seemed to fade a little - as if they were holograms.

Cautiously, she took one from the middle of the row. It seemed solid enough in her claws, but occasionally, it just felt like she was holding nothing but air.

She turned to the monitor. There was a slot to its side.

“… Well…” Alphys looked over her shoulder at the closed door. “… I guess I’m doing this, now.”

Holding the tape in one hand, she reached behind the monitor with the other, yanking its power wire out from a wall port. She focused a little, electricity dancing in her claws. The metal prongs from the wire conducted it, and the monitor flickered on. 

She glanced at the tape one last time, before pushing it into the slot.

At first, there was nothing but static reflected in her glasses.

Then, after a buzz and a quick roar of static, an image came into focus.

Alphys blinked.

It was indeed the interior of the CORE. Specifically, the observation room she’d just walked through - plus a control panel. Except… everything looked a lot newer. The images were fairly clear, except…

Alphys squinted hard at the screen.

“Uhh…”

There were four figures moving about the screen, each tending to a work station. Except instead of clear shapes, they all looked… grainy. Glitchy. Pixellated

The lizard monster leaned back, blinking. Even though the footage seemed pretty ancient, the rest of the room shown on camera was fairly clear. It was inconsistent with the figures moving about the room. Was it a motion issue?

**_“This is a bit of a mess.”_ **

Alphys perked up at the sound of one of them talking. She couldn’t tell who, due to the lack of detail the glitching was causing, but she found her eyes drawn to the tallest figure. Through the graininess, she could make out a long lab coat and white hands, split in sections. His face was the most indistinct from the distortion, but the lizard was fairly sure it was a skeleton.

 _“I-I’M SORRY, DOCTOR!”_ One of the other glitched figures, a tall and red monster with distinct triangular ears, leaned towards a work bench, which currently had a small chemistry lab atop it. One of the main beakers was bubbling away with a glowing, green kind of substance. _“I thought we had some lying around here, but…”_

 ** _“It’s alright, Reno.”_** The skeleton leaned in towards the chemistry set. **_“Things have been quite hectic around here, lately, with the recent move. But please keep our collective safety in mind next time. We’re fortunate that this wasn’t a volatile concoction.”_**

 _“I would have checked if it was!!”_ The monster had both hands on his head. _“AUGH! It’s a waste. Waste of money! Waste of effort!”_ He marched off to the corner of the room, throwing his head back in a melodramatic fashion. _“I’m a waste of_ ** _space_** _!”_

 _“Calm down, dear.”_ Came a soft, new voice, and Alphys glanced over to a larger figure, who seemed hunched over the CORE controls. They didn’t have any distinct features through the glitching, but they did not seem to have arms or legs. It seemed like one, big orange face connected to a serpentine body, working the controls with some kind of telekinetic magic.

There was a pause, as all eyes seemed to be on Reno, who remained frozen in the corner. Then, he straightened out, as if the earlier outburst hadn’t even happened.

_“Okay.”_

Reno briskly returned to the workbench. The final figure who had yet to speak gave a sigh.

 _“Well, we got ten minutes until this formula becomes useless.”_ He said. He, too, seemed to be wearing a lab coat - about a head shorter than everyone else, and judging by his tone, a shorter temper as well. Alphys could make out a blue colour through the pixellation.

 ** _“We can salvage it it we hurry.”_** The tall figure - the Doctor said, scratching his head. **_“Let’s not write this off quite yet, Sprig.”_**

The monster named Sprig wandered over to the compound that was brewing. _“So, what’re we missing here?”_

 ** _“Another suitable reagent.”_** The doctor hummed, bowing down to face the concoction at eye-level. **_“The substrate is not volatile, but if we wait too long, the composition we’re looking for is lost. And we can’t afford to waste many more resources.”_**

The large monster at the controls rotated around. _“We may have some things stored in the upstairs offices…”_

The skeleton perked up. **_“Oh! Perhaps if we can contact Owel - ”_**

There was the sound of an electronic door sliding open.

_“We’ve prepared the control groups, Doctor Gaster - but I need you to speed up production on…”_

There was a pause.

_“Oh. That’s... really not promising.”_

Another glitching figure appeared from the bottom of the frame. She was a sea-green colour, and also donning a lab coat - distinct spikes were visible under the distortion, as well as a tail. She also appeared to lack arms.

 ** _“Oh!”_** Doctor “Gaster" straightened. ** _“Apologies, Owel. I thought you were upstairs. I, er… was hoping you could fetch something for us.”_**

 _“From the facility offices!”_ Reno cried, suddenly clutching his head.

 _“In seven minutes.”_ Sprig cut in.

 _“No pressure.”_ The last monster said, not turning around from the controls.

The monster called Owel paused, looking back and forth between all the monsters in the group.

 _“...No pressure at all.”_ She said, flatly. 

 _“hold up._ **_which_ ** _floor?”_

The group turned to watch another monster walking in from out of frame, next to Owel.

Alphys blinked.

This person’s image was… clear. Still grainy, but the pixellation that covered all the other figures in the room was mysteriously absent on this one. He was short, donning a lab coat that seemed almost too big for him. He also seemed to be wearing a blue sweater underneath.

… it was another skeleton. He didn’t sound that much older than his late teens.

 _“i can get it. it’d save us a trip back up that elevator.”_ He added. Reno seemed to perk up, but Gaster seemed to notably stiffen at the suggestion.

 _“Oh! Right.”_ Owel said, blinking. _"Thanks, kid."_

Sprig stepped forward. _“Teleportation. Handy. I keep forgetting that’s a thing.”_

 ** _“It is most certainly not a thing.” _**The doctor said, crossing his arms.

Everyone turned to him in surprise, the smaller skeleton tilting his head. The way silence fell onto the group, Alphys had a feeling that Gaster was probably the one in charge.

 _“It is certainly handy.”_  The orange and serpentine monster said, turning away from the controls once more. _“I don’t see why we could not utilise it when we can.”_

 ** _“Usefulness does not outweigh safety.”_** The doctor sighed, stepping forward to kneel at the smaller skeleton, face-to-face. **_“And it’s still an uncertainty.”_** He gestured with his hand to the side. ** _“I’d much rather you use this magic sparingly. At least until we know for certain that it isn’t doing you any harm.”_**

The smaller skeleton stepped past him. _“hey, c’mon, doc. it’s not a problem. kinda fun, really.”_

The doctor rose, turning to face him. Alphys stared hard at the only clear figure among them as he turned around, his face now in view of the camera.

 

_… Huh?_

 

_“There’s been no evidence to suggest it’s damaging him.”_ Owel chimed in. _“We've been monitoring the kid's soul energy. Aside from being a little volatile, it’s been stabilising through time.”_

Gaster’s stern expression dissolved into resignation. **_“I’m merely concerned. This is very new territory.”_** He rubbed at his temples. **_“I would rather it not be traversed at the expense of others.”_**

 _“as neat as a spiel that is, doc, pretty sure you just shaved a few more minutes off the clock with the test, there.”_ The small skeleton said, shoving his hands in his oversized lab coat pockets.

Reno jumped. _“He’s right! Five minutes!”_

Gaster sighed. **_“… Please report if anything feels wrong.”_**

 _“trust me, i feel fine.”_ The smaller skeleton waved his hand. _“i’ll write it down if it makes you feel better.”_

The doctor gave a patient smile.

 ** _“Very well, Sans.”_** He looked up at the ceiling.

**_“…Are you ready to jump?”_ **

The fifteen-year-old skeleton grinned.

_“how high, doc?”_


	10. A Cry

The beauty of Waterfall never quite enthralled Gaster like it used to.

He could appreciate the simple things. Feeling the temperature, again, for instance. The feeling of the cool air on his bones, the sensation of stepping on solid ground. He could appreciate the ability to reach over to one of the Typha reeds and merely pluck one off with no effort at all.

He tossed it aside.

Yet, Gaster couldn’t really appreciate the beauty of the place.

For the most part, he believed it was a waste of time.

Owel had vanished a few minutes ago. He’d begun to meander down the walkway, his eyes alight with violet energy as they observed his surroundings, thoughtfully. The rifts were scattered around him, reflected above the still water. 

Ideally, he would prefer a direct route back to the CORE. But Gaster had barely made it back to his anchor the last time he'd dragged himself through spacetime. Due to his increasing corporeality, he could not traverse these passages. Not without Sans on hand.

A promising development, under different circumstances. It meant his body was steadily returning to the laws of this realm.

Gaster frowned, before his violet pupils grew brighter in his sockets, focusing hard on his surroundings.

Though, now... something else about the strange rifts had caught his attention. 

They appeared to be pulling steadily apart at the seams. A roar of static and black particles were rushing into some and spilling out of others. 

He blinked again, and the rips disappeared. The area was silent, once more.

For some reason, the rifts were appearing more and more hostile. Travelling within them seemed unsafe, with or without his tool.

 Gaster paused in his stride, his thoughts returning to his old tool. Sans still had the ability to 'jump' regardless. 

He could not sense Sans’ presence in the corridors between ‘shortcuts,’ however.

Perhaps their instability was preventing him from using them. Thankfully, that meant that the small crew were about as mobile as Gaster was.

But despite observing otherwise all these years... the doctor knew that for once, he could _not_ depend on Sans being inactive.

There was a chance the smaller skeleton would grow wise to the precise nature of the doctor's condition - and possibly how to worsen it. However, soon Gaster would not need to worry about his existence being at the whim of some power plant’s functionality. He would not need to worry about being pulled back into the void.

He let his hands fall to his sides. Perhaps Owel would be correct. Perhaps the world would not remember him, regardless if he re-stabilised.

It was no real loss. As long as he was _here,_ he couldn't care less.

Gaster simply needed to resolve this as quickly as he could.

 

_(...It's a hassle.)_

 

Gaster began walking again, a twinge of irritation playing up at the presence of the new thought.

No. It wasn’t a hassle. It was _necessary_.

 

_(Piecing yourself together seems to just be making you lose convenience after convenience. The more complete you're becoming, the more you're losing your connection to the void.)_

 

He blinked. That’s what he _wanted_ though, right? To exist, to be able to walk in this realm once again. There was nothing in the void. He'd been locked there for years. It would benefit him to stay _here_.

 

_(But it'd benefit you **more** to stay connected to the void and its potential, too. Why can't you have **both?** )_

 

He shook his head.

...Where had _that_ come from? He did not come this far to be indecisive. He was going to finish what he started. 

 

**(If you properly existed, you'd be normal. Unremarkable.)**

 

Gaster blinked. But he would be _here._ He would be able to _properly interact_ with this world again.

 

**(Because being attacked - being prone to feeling pain - is _such_ a wonderful trade-off. Don't you remember how painful that spear was? That _burn_ from your weapon? Your physical prowess before now has never amounted to much - and you've got 12 years in the void to show for it.)**

 

_(If you keep this up, you'll lose the ability to manipulate from afar. You won't be safe.)_

 

Gaster shook his head, teeth gritting. Even so - if he could _not_ depend on the powers he had in the void, he would depend on what he had now! What he _could_ have! 

When this was all over, once he was _complete..._

...he would have the stability that he craved. No more would be be wasting away in an empty realm. He would be able to build on what he'd achieved, years ago.

Besides, he still had his weaponry to fall back on. With his full presence, he would be able to convert them immediately to his cause! Gaster had made no allies among the small crew that pursued him, he understood that all too well. He needed security.

He knew the inspid friends that Sans and Papyrus had made would _dare_ not attack them. And if Gaster had his way, the infuriating captain would be nothing more than a black mark on the floor.

And the human...

Well. This particular human did not seem interested in fighting in the slightest. 

In the end, Gaster would be able to leave the static void far behind and move onto a future full of far more possibility than the stale air of the Underground.

 

 _(You have to_ **_find_ **_your weapons, first.)_

 

**(You have to catch them, first.)**

 

Gaster stood up straight, shoulders hunched, his face twisting into a scowl.

 ** _Quiet._** He whispered. 

He needed to check the CORE. His captive would still be trapped, though he needed to ensure the security of the control room. He’d take no chances, after what had happened last time.

 

_(The stakes are getting higher. It's necessary to kill them now, right?)_

 

 Gaster sighed at the irritating voice in his head.

Later. He was _busy_.

His eyes rose, and he summoned a Gaster Blaster to his side.

The doctor placed a foot on the side of the Blaster’s jaw, stepping up and steadying himself with a hand on one of its side horns. Giving it a nod, the Blaster shot off through the caverns, carrying its master through the labyrinth - until the narrow passages opened up to the massive caverns, where Asgore’s castle could clearly be seen in the distance.

He just needed to make certain that his anchor was still secure…

As he was carried through the air, something in his side seemed to twist and churn. 

In moments, a lump formed upon his back.

It seemed to stretch and break though his ‘skin’ as if breaking through tar. Five smaller points broke through, revealing another skeletal hand - that now cleanly tore through the black.

It grasped around blindly, reaching and pulling and extending outwards into a flimsy arm. It found a sturdy grip on another one of the Blaster’s horns and held on tight.

Gaster never noticed it was there.

 

 

* * *

 

 

It was silent in Alphys’ lab. 

The overhead lights had been turned off, and only the auxiliary lamps remained on, their electric hum ringing slightly in Sans’ ears (If he had any). 

He gave a quiet sigh.

When the four had met back at the surface lab, Sans had explained the general plan to the crew. If one of them could sneak ahead and activate the elevator that connected Asgore’s castle to the True Lab, then everyone would be right next to the surface with little hassle - as well as finally in contact with help.

Papyrus, of course, volunteered. However, both skeletons were instantly crossed off as an option. If Gaster caught either of them alone, he would use them again.

The taller skeleton was suddenly a lot less enthusiastic, and the choice fell down to Undyne and Frisk.

There was initially a rush to put the elevator plan in motion. However, upon noting that even Undyne of all people suddenly seemed to be slurring her words, and even the likes of Frisk were leaning more and more heavily on the wall, slowly sliding down into an unconscious sitting position, the crew steadily began to realize that they hadn’t slept in over twenty or so hours.

Sans initially expected Papyrus to tell them all off - the idea of sleep in general was usually unfeasible to the energetic skeleton - usually to the point where he would be awake for days on end before collapsing suddenly on the spot. He’d need to be dragged back home to his race car bed.

This time - and Sans again couldn’t help but let his smile shrink a little more - Papyrus looked visibly exhausted. He’d looked to him after the suggestion was made, asking if it really was a good idea to sleep with Gaster about.

He gave his brother the same reassurance he’d given Frisk - that he could sense Gaster a mile away if he was coming. Papyrus had visibly relaxed at that, and Sans had said no more.

He didn’t know if the situation would change. 

He left that little detail out.

Sans gave a sigh, glancing up from his position of sitting against the wall.

He’d reassured the rest, too - the power generator still had a day’s worth of juice left. And both Frisk and Undyne would be horrible agents of action without at least a little sleep. So it was decided that the crew would take a small nap, and Sans would serve as an alarm if he sensed Gaster coming.

They were all upstairs. They’d set up Alphys’ bed - an incredible invention that resembled an inconspicuous and simple box when it wasn’t in use. Frisk lay at the base of the bed, sprawled out and drooling a little. Undyne had chosen to settle on a nearby workchair, sitting on it backwards and folding her arms atop the back, her head resting on her forearms and snoring quietly

Papyrus was curled up on the side of the bed, eyes closed. Usually, Sans wouldn’t think much of it - he’d seen his brother fall asleep in every odd position imaginable.

Even so, each time, Papyrus had seemed perfectly comfortable, no matter how he slept.

This time around, however… his brother seemed oddly cramped.

Quietly, the smaller skeleton rubbed at one of his temples with a chuckle.

Thinking too hard again. This sickness really was a hassle. 

He was fine. Pap would be fine. 

Sans just needed to stay rational. Get some sleep - he’d be woken by Gaster’s presence if he were nearby.

They’d get help. They’d find a way to stop the doctor, with more than just a four-person squad. Undyne wouldn’t have to cover for all of them. Frisk wouldn’t have to be in danger.

… and Papyrus wouldn’t have to worry.

He closed his eyes, shoving his hood over his head for good measure, hoping that the darkness would lull him to sleep.

He sat there for a few moments.

There was a pause.

Sans slowly got to his feet, tugging his hood to the point where his skull-spikes were beginning to tear through.

Well. Papyrus was unconscious, and Sans couldn’t sleep a wink. 

He never thought he’d see the day.

The skeleton stared at the sleeping trio for a few moments. It wasn’t that he wasn’t tired - his brain simply refused to switch off. No doubt because of Gaster.

Sans frowned. It wasn’t as if he was nearby. It was as if there was some kind of… low hum amongst the backdrop of everything. And it wasn't just the auxiliary lamps. The doctor's presence seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once.

...A little freaky. 

Sans glanced down at his clawed feet, poking out the front of his slippers. He wondered if that was why both he and Papyrus were stuck in this state. If Gaster really _was_ influencing their form still, in some way.

Focusing a little, and facing away from the sleeping trio so as not to wake them up, his eye lit up with the flashing blue and yellow. 

There’d never been many tears in space around Alphys’ Lab. Downstairs was a different story - but here, he could only spy a couple. 

Though a couple was all he really needed to be concerned about. They were both quite large - unnaturally so - and seemed to be destabilising, a loud roar of static assaulting his hearing. 

They were getting worse.

He blinked, and they vanished, as his eye returned to normal.

Well, that was new. He hadn't seen them look so hostile before.

Not since...

Sans stopped that thought in its tracks.

He glanced back to the sleeping trio one last time. Then, he turned and descended the staircase in silence.

He wondered what the harm would be in taking a walk.

Sans meandered towards the back entrance of the Lab. He wouldn’t go far, and no-one in their right mind - not even Gaster - would even think about stepping through the shortcuts at this point in time.

Heck, Sans wasn’t confident at _all_ about using them. 

Sans blinked away the blue light that suddenly flickered in both of his eyes. 

 _just a quick walk._ He told himself. He just needed some space.

Sans wandered out into Hotland, through the back entrance of the Lab. Despite restoring Alphys’ generator, the area around the Lab remained very dim. The puzzles were all deactivated, as were the conveyor belts. 

He couldn’t help but chuckle slightly, walking over them. 

Ah, yes.

The _long_ way to work. 

Sans' smile shrank a little. He remembered the days where he had to take the boat all the way from Snowdin, and _walk_ , like everyone else.

But after he’d been able to start ‘jumping,’ he’d always skipped the traffic since.

Felt a little weird, being brought back down to normal. Though, at the moment, that was exactly what he felt he needed.

'Normal' felt nice.

Sans found himself wandering through the first floor of Hotland - completely bypassing the deactivated puzzles. He stepped over the steam gratings, no longer providing the boost needed to clear gaps. A strategically placed bone or two solved that problem.

It was minutes before he found himself at the R1 elevator outlook.

The CORE was far in the distance. Despite the lack of power, the machinery still glowed red from above the magma. 

Sans stared hard at the structure, slowly slipping off his hood.

He stood there in silence for several moments.

… Well. 

He could give credit where credit was due. The CORE was indeed an amazing feat. 

His gaze flicked briefly to the magma. 

Looking at the machine now, though - just _burned him up._

Sans chuckled to himself. Maybe he’d tuck that one away for later. Nobody here to appreciate his amazing jokes. In any case, he knew he should be getting back, anyway.

He turned on the spot.

 

And froze, when his gaze landed on the R1 elevator.

 

…A monster stood there.

A grey monster, fading slowly into view. They were tall and lanky, though hunched over. Sans briefly wondered if they were a straggler from the migration to the surface - right up until grey pixels surrounded them, ebbing in and out of their form. 

They didn’t seem to notice.

They remained transparent as Sans approached, curiously. His hands remained in his pockets, and his expression remained casual, but he remained cautious.

He was getting a bit of a headache. It wasn’t anything new or alarming - the usual buzz in his skull that he got whenever he ‘jumped.’ 

Still… he couldn’t really let himself relax, here.

“hey, buddy. you lost?”

The figure jolted in what seemed like alarm, their triangular ears perking up atop their head. Cautiously, they peered over their shoulder, so that only their face was visible.

… or it _would_ have been, had most of their features not been covered in a dark black shadow, which seemed to remain no matter what angle they faced. The only thing visible was their mouth - filled with sharp teeth.

Upon seeing Sans, they fully turned in shock. 

 

And the skeleton took a step back, caught almost completely off-guard.

 

The monster that stood before him held something resembling a disembodied head in one of his hands. Its focus seemed to be elsewhere, its gaze drawn to something far, far off in the distance - but the person holding it seemed solely fixed on Sans, their mouth still drawn into what could only be shock.

The skeleton looked up at him. For once, Sans found his grin dropping completely, his eye sockets wide.

“…no _way_.”

He heard a buzzing sound. Blinking, he summoned his old cellphone from his inventory, staring at it in confusion. It was vibrating. The caller ID was a mess of symbols and numbers, reaching off of the screen.

Sans flipped it open.

“...this is a bad time.” He said, simply, upon hearing the static emitting through the speaker.

**“Actually, this is the best time to call. I’m really glad you picked up at all.”**

Sans’ smile returned, but his eye sockets dimmed completely into black.

He knew that voice.

The monster before him stood up tall, now. They’d started smiling, too. It was small, timid, but genuine. It fell within moments, as they took a closer look at the skeleton.

**“… and I guess he finally got to you.”**

The monster slowly sat down, crossing their legs, and placing their hands (one still holding the head) on their legs. Their ears drooped backwards, as they faced Sans at level.  
****

The skeleton placed the phone on speaker, and let his hand fall to his side.

 **“… so there really _was_ nothing we could do.”**  
****

The two were silent a moment. Sans’ eyes remained dim.

 _“reno?”_ He asked, quietly.

His sockets regained their usual brightness. Though, the skeleton didn’t look or feel that much better. He stared hard at the monster, eyes darting around slightly, taking in the sight of them. 

His eyes closed, giving a quiet chuckle as he rubbed at his head.

“… don’t, uh… _scare_ me like that.”  

For once, Sans didn’t really know how to respond to the situation. He didn't know what to say, or do.

His eyes reopened to see Reno smiling at him. It was still a sad smile, but he was sitting up straight again.

**“You’ve really grown up. How did that happen?”**

He glanced aside, a little perplexed.

**“… time in the void seems be be overlapping.”**

Sans stared a moment. Then, despite himself, he chuckled ruefully.

“… _yikes,_ buddy. that was a stretch.” 

He raised an eyebrow. “what’s with the rhyming, by the way? never could, uh… _stanza_ your work. no offense.”

 **“None taken, Sans. And _you’re_ still a whelp.”** Reno said, frowning. **“But this isn’t something I can help.”**

“heh. weird.” The skeleton said, grinning. Then, he grew serious, the lighter mood dissipating in seconds.

“…how’s this possible?” He asked. “i thought, uh…”

His grin became strained. “... i thought all you guys were…”

Reno looked back at Sans, his mouth becoming a thin line. Then, his gaze settled onto the head remaining in his hand.

**“…I’m not really here. None of us are.”**

The skeleton realised that the head itself was the one talking. It had Reno’s voice - though while the monster seemed to be talking directly to Sans, the head seemed more interested in whatever was going on about several miles from the Hotlands.  
****

Reno looked back up to Sans.

**“… That you can see me? Kinda bizarre.”**

The skeleton’s expression didn’t change. His gaze flicked around, his left eye activated as they scanned through the rips in space that surrounded them.  
****

Still chaotic. But no sign of him nearby.

**“If you’re looking for Gaster, I wouldn’t worry.”**

Sans blinked away the blue. Reno seemed hunched over the head, mouth grimacing in thought.  
****

**“... He’s looking for me. But there’s no real hurry.”**

The skeleton’s eyes narrowed.   
****

“why’s he after _you?”_ He asked, his tone suddenly fierce. "what _else_ does he want?"

Pausing at the sudden outburst, Reno held up the head. It seemed to turn a little more towards Sans.

**“He’s after this. It’s what’s anchored me here.”**

Reno smiled again, sadly.  
****

**“A** _piece_ **of himself. And he’ll get it, I fear.”**

The skeleton stared.

“… a piece of _gaster_?” He repeated, eyes flickering blue. 

He stepped forward, reaching out for the head. His fingers closed around it, only for the object to flicker as his hand passed through. Reno shook his head.

 **“You belong in your world. As opposed to us four.”** He pointed out. **“The _doctor_ should, too. But his foot’s in the door.”**

Sans observed his clawed hand, his fingers flexing as he thought.  
****

“… heh. shoulda guessed.”

Wasn’t gonna be that easy after all. Sans placed his hand back into his pocket. 

“… ‘well-anchored,’ huh?” He repeated, recollecting what Gaster had told him, moments before his capture. “you’re saying he’s kinda… _inching_ into existence, here?” 

The head in Reno’s hand opened its mouth. Sans noticed the monster suddenly hesitating as the head’s mouth closed, and he opted to simply nod, instead.

“couldn’t make it rhyme, huh?” Sans grinned. He thought a moment. “… what’s he _using_ as an anchor? how’d he even get here in the first place?”

Reno tilted his head.

**“The same way he _left_. It’s a two-way street.”  **

Sans’ eye sockets grew wide. Glancing down at the ground, perplexed, his gaze was drawn across Hotland towards the CORE in the distance.

“… but that’s impossible.” He said, blinking slowly.

 **“He reached back through. It was no easy feat.”** Reno stared across the magma himself, frowning. Sans noticed, with no small amount of discomfort, that the talking head seemed to be facing in exactly that direction.

“thought it got shut down this morning.” He said, softly. He glanced back to Reno.

“you’re saying it’s still active?”

 **“It serves as an anchor, through space and time.”** The monster thought a moment, then seemed to sigh. **“…It’s hard to explain. Especially in rhyme.”**

“… i bet, buddy.” Sans said. His smile was becoming strained, again.   
****

“… don’t suppose you know what he’s trying to do? his, uh…” He glanced aside. “… his _current_ project, i guess.”

Reno nodded. **“He’s looking for his pieces. I still hear his call.”** He slowly stood up, holding the head out to the skeleton.

**“They’ve pinned us into existence. They're trapping us all.”**

_'trapping you - '_

Sans’ eyesockets grew wide, suddenly processing something. He stared up at Reno, almost excited.  
****

“wait. ‘ _us_?’ you said 'us four -'”

The expression on the monster’s face quashed any hopes he had. The taller monster slowly shook his head, and Sans visibly slumped.

“i gotcha.” He grinned. “… too much to hope for, i guess.”

Reno knelt to face Sans at level. He looked a little morose at first - then his expression grew serious, looking down at the head in his hand.

**“The pieces dragged us from the void. To little effect.”**

He smiled at the skeleton.  
****

**“I’ll only be _here_ until he comes to collect.” **

Sans’ eyesockets dimmed again. Blue light began to flicker within them both, and his gaze dropped to the ground.

Though the other monster had no visible eyes, he felt Reno’s gaze on him.

“… so he’s pulled you _out_ of the void... only to just shove you back _in_.”

The skeleton’s voice trailed off. The other monster continued to stare, as Sans raised a hand to cover his eyes, then moved to pinch at his forehead, eyes shut. His toothy grin seemed to broaden into what almost seemed like a snarl.

“… he _can’t_ come back. not after what he did to...”

His voice trailed off. His gaze rose to Reno, suddenly incredibly tired.

“there’s gotta be _something_ i can do, right? if he’s using the CORE as an anchor, then…”

Sans perked up.

The _CORE_. 

The skeleton glanced down at his clawed fingers. Back at the fight… back when he and Papyrus had been out of control, Gaster had fled the scene without them. It was odd - they were both in their Blaster forms.

Taking them at that moment was ideal.

But he'd left in a hurry when the CORE had begun to _reactivate_.

Sans looked back up at the facility in the distance. Judging by how silent the machinery was, the main power was now switched back off, it seemed.

But if the doctor had given up on his attempts to reclaim them, _just_ to return to the CORE…

… then it had to be important.

He didn’t know _how_ Gaster was using it to stay in reality - but if that was the case, if that was all that was currently keeping him here right now…

“… it’s gotta be destabilised.” Sans concluded.

Safely, of course - he didn’t want to risk the Underground caving in on itself - but he just needed to find a way to sever the anchor.

 **“You’ll need to act soon. Return to the CORE.”** Reno said, firmly. **“Once he’s complete, he won’t need that link, anymore.”**

Sans glanced back in the direction of the Lab. He thought about Undyne, Frisk and Papyrus. Thought about them stuck facing Gaster, once more.

He thought about the danger they'd be in.

Blue flickered in his eyes, briefly.

And the questions they'd ask.

Sans thought a moment. Then, he glanced up the elevator structure, summoning his three bone attacks and walking forward. 

**“… You’re going alone?”**

Sans looked back at Reno, who was now clutching the head in both hands, concerned.  
****

**“… not the best notion. He’ll target you next. Rein in your emotion.”**

The skeleton looked down, unaware of the blue light flickering in both eyes as he spoke.

“if he’s collected most of his pieces, then it’s now or never.” The skeleton said, twirling a bone. “this… i’d just prefer all this to be _finished_.”

Sans looked back up at Reno, grinning. “i have _places_ to be. places that aren’t... just the underground. i just wanna move _on_.”

The blue light faded from his eyes, and he blinked, a little startled at the firmness of his voice. 

“… and i don’t need gaster back in the picture.” He added, eyes narrowed.

Reno was silent. 

He rose to his full height, though Sans could tell he was disappointed. He stepped forward, bringing the head aside.

**“… It was good to see you. Just… take care.”**

He smiled. **“Maybe we’ll meet again. Though, not sure where.”**  
****

The skeleton paused. Then, he shook his head, his smile becoming sad.

“hey, don’t worry so much. not you, too.”

He set up the bone attacks as steps before him, before looking over his shoulder at the monster.

“… it was nice to see you again, bud... thank you.”

(Heh. Bit of a stretch on the syllables, maybe.)

Sans turned away, and began strolling up the rotating steps through the air, following the elevator structure’s height.

Reno stared up after him, slowly fading from sight as Sans walked onwards. His eyes were dim for his entire ascent, his gaze fixed downwards on his feet, the bone steps and the magma far, far below.

By the time he reached R3, he had to stop to collect himself for a moment, leaning against the silver structure and rubbing a hand over his forehead with a sigh. He dismissed the three bones in a flash of blue light, rubbing at his skull.

Forget the sickness. He’d be lying if he said this entire ordeal wasn’t getting to him a little.

Sans stayed like that for a moment.

Then, he regained his composure, shoving his hands back into his pockets. Back to business. It was risky staying still - he couldn’t afford to stick around like this.

He thought a moment. Were the shortcuts doing any better?

Sans’ eye glowed a bright blue and yellow once more, looking hard at the rips of space around him.

He cringed at the sight of the passages. It was getting _worse_ \- they seemed to be becoming violently unstable. Heck, if he tried stepping into one of those right now, he was pretty sure his foot would crumble into dust.

He needed to hurry to the CORE.

Sans could not let the doctor properly stabilise here, again. Gaster was too dangerous. Unpredictable.

Something rumbled quietly in his throat. The skeleton vaguely identified it as a growl, and placed a hand on his chest, frowning.  
  
"cut that out." He muttered to himself, smiling grimly.

He needed to finish this.

Gaster couldn't be allowed back out. Not after everything he'd done.

Someone like him _needed_ to be locked away in the void.

The skeleton glanced to the ground, blinking away the blue light in his eyes. He marched forward, towards the large, redstone staircase that would eventually lead him to the MTT resort.

A step.

Sans was jolted out of his thoughts.

Another step.

Then another. Several. Rapidly approaching.

Towards him.

Sans' first instinct was panic.

He spun on the spot, automatically reaching out to the soul of whoever was approaching.

_**PING!** _

 

 

* * *

  
 

 

Back at Alphys’ lab, Undyne curled in more on the floor, groaning as someone continued to try shaking her awake.

“C’mon… the _hell_ are you trying to pull at this time of night…?” She mumbled.

The person shook her as hard as they could - though the captain snorted. Wimpy, _weak_ shoving. Clearly, the best way to be woken up was through suplex (Or the opening theme for Kissy Cutie 2).

“U-Undyne?”

She blearily opened an eye, glaring up at the human.

Of course, she didn’t expect that from a wimpy loser like Frisk.

“…what is it?” She sat up, stretching. “Is it that time already?”

Relaxing, and letting her arms fall back down to her sides, Undyne blinked upon seeing the human’s expression. 

They seemed absolutely petrified.

“Th-they’re…”

Eye growing wide, the captain leapt to her feet, looking around.

She scanned the lab, her face suddenly turning into a snarl. Nobody else was around.

 _“… where the_ **_hell_ ** _are they?”_

 

 

* * *

 

 

_“ACK!?”_

Sans’s head perked up in recognition, staring past his outstretched hand.

He blinked, incredulous.

Floating several feet before him was a startled Papyrus, his body rigid in alarm. The BLUE effect was visible on his soul, causing him to hover a few feet off the scorching ground.

The two stared at each other few a few moments. The taller skeleton’s eye sockets were wide for a moment, before he frowned, twisting about in the air.

“SANS! PUT ME _DOWN_!”

Sans obliged, still startled.

_“…papyrus?”_

... Welp.

He was _sure_ that he’d managed to sneak out alone. Slowly, Sans placed his hand back into his pocket, regaining his composure. 

“how’d, uh… how’d you get here?”

Papyrus stood tall, fists clenched to his sides and glaring. Sans gave an awkward grin.

_Oh boy._

“I _FOLLOWED_ YOU.” He stomped one of his feet on the ground. “I TRACKED YOU DOWN. _OBVIOUSLY_ , YOU DIDN’T WANT TO BE FOLLOWED.”

Sans blinked, thinking hard about his trek through the first level. He'd glanced back periodically, more to take in the sights than anything - and had not even glimpsed his brother - or anyone else following him.

"the puzzle section?" He asked, scratching his head.

"I HID UNDER THE STEAM GRATINGS!" Papyrus replied.

"the overlook?"

"I HID ON THE CLIFF FACE, BELOW!"

"... the _elevator_?"

"SANS, I CARRIED YOU DOWN FROM ONE _THREE_   _HOURS_ _AGO_!" Papyrus said, incredulous. "OF COURSE I COULD FOLLOW YOU!"

The taller skeleton crossed his arms.

“THIS HAS TO BE _THE_ MOST BONEHEADED THING YOU'VE DONE, SANS! WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING, GOING OUT HERE ON YOUR OWN!?”

Despite his mild irritation at being followed, the smaller skeleton found himself shrugging.

“couldn’t sleep. decided to take a walk.”

Well, that was mostly true, at least. But that didn’t seem to calm Papyrus down in the slightest, who was now pinching the bridge of his nonexistent nose.

“WELL, FORTUNATELY FOR _YOU_ , _I_ WASN’T ABLE TO SLEEP, EITHER!” His brother huffed. “WHAT, WITH ALL THE FLASHING EYE-LIGHTS AND…” Papyrus glanced down at himself. “… WELL, _THIS!”_

He began to pace back and forth, holding a finger high up in the air. “IT’S ONE THING TO JUST TAKE A WALK! IT’S ANOTHER THING _ENTIRELY_ TO TALK TO STRANGERS WHO ARE ALL GREY AND SEE-THROUGH…”

Papyrus paused, turning to Sans, perplexed. “…A-AND KNOW YOUR _NAME_.” 

The smaller skeleton blinked, slowly. This just kept getting better.

“… how much did you hear, bro?”

There was a pause. Suddenly, his younger brother seemed uncomfortable with the topic, as if he knew he was treading on fragile territory. Withdrawing into himself, he began to wring his hands again.

“… I KNOW THERE’S A LOT OF THINGS YOU DON’T LIKE TALKING ABOUT.” Papyrus admitted.  “A-AND I DO AGREE THAT WE NEED TO FIND A WAY TO BE CURED, SOON…”

His hands dropped to his sides, clenched into fists, and he stomped on the ground hard, eyes wide.

“… BUT WHAT THE HECK WAS ALL _THAT_ ABOUT?!” 

Sans was silent a moment. The previous conversation he’d had with Frisk was coming to mind.

… How much did his brother _know,_ exactly? _  
_

“… _GASTER_ KNOWS YOU. THE OTHER GREY MONSTER WE FOUND… _SPRIG_ , HE KNEW YOU, TOO…” He glanced up at Sans, concerned. “… SO DID … THIS ‘RENO.’”

The smaller skeleton winced upon the mention of another familiar name. And _there_ was another topic he needed to avoid.

“...I KNEW YOU WERE INVOLVED IN A LOT OF STRANGE SHENANIGANS.” Papyrus said, softly. “AND YOU KNOW SO MANY STRANGE THINGS. BUT… BUT THIS TIME - YOU’VE BEEN IN SO MUCH DANGER…”

He shook his head, straightened his posture, and puffed out his chest. “I WON’T _STAND_ FOR IT, SANS! NOT THIS TIME! SO, I’M COMING _WITH_ YOU! AND YOU’RE GOING TO ANSWER _ALL_ MY QUESTIONS!”

Sans glared at the ground for a moment.

He took in a breath to reply...

… before suddenly, the quiet, electric humming that had plagued him for the past hour suddenly seemed to rise in volume.

A weight was felt in his sternum, and he glanced over to Papyrus, who had traded his sternness for fear. He was looking around nervously, as if searching for something.

The skeletons suddenly stared at one another, disturbed.

“...do you -

“ - HEAR THAT, TOO?” 

Sans looked out over Hotland, his eye switching back to blue. There were no signs of anyone using the volatile passages, though their instability seemed to be increasing, the roar of static growing louder.

And then, there was a glimpse.

The skeleton saw a glimpse of him in the distance, in the direction of Waterfall.

It was too far away to see any telling features, to make out what exactly he was using as transport - but his distinct energy signature gave him away.

There was a flurry of movement, as Sans grabbed Papyrus by the wrist and fled to the left, nearly yanking his brother off his feet.

They needed to get away. _Hide_. No time to think.

Papyrus soon found his footing, and began to propel himself faster than Sans possibly could - and soon the smaller skeleton was the one being pulled off of his feet. Neither of them dared looked back, not even for a moment. They ducked into the makeshift stage setup in the next room, courtesy of one of Mettaton’s final broadcasts with Frisk. The props were ripped out of the area, leaving it barren - as the robot had brought them along to the surface as well.

Sans could only feel relief wash over him as the buzzing sound began to lessen - almost in a doppler-esque manner. He was passing by them, from the outside.

They _hadn’t_ been seen. They weren’t being pursued.

Not at the moment, at least.

Gaster was focused on getting somewhere else. The CORE, most likely.

An alarmed Papyrus seemed to have figured out they were no longer in danger, himself. Moments after they’d made it past the stage set, the room had opened out into a massive, almost deep purple cave - and the lanky skeleton’s pace slowed from a rush to a few heavy, clumsy steps.

The humming faded away, and both brothers collapsed, exhausted from their fear more than anything.

“H-HE… HE WAS RIGHT _THERE_!” Papyrus whispered, shakily, eyes flickering orange.

“… he, uh… he didn’t see us…” Sans muttered, taking in a breath, sweat beading on his skull. Once he was sure that the humming remained silent, he looked up, glancing around.

They were in Muffet’s lair.

It was long devoid of the Spider family. Muffet and her entourage had been among the first monsters to leave, having been eager to reunite the family on the surface after the barrier had been broken.

Many of their webs remained, silken lines cutting through the air. Sans looked down over the edge of the plateau upon which they sat. The webs seemed to lessen the further down he looked. He could vaguely see the bottom, though only through patches of a thick, purple fog.

Sans stood up, giving a nervous chuckle. He could respect Muffet’s skills as a fellow businessperson. But really, everything about this place sorta gave him the creeps.

He turned back to his brother, who was dusting off his arms. He still looked a little shaken.

“W-WELL… THAT CERTAINLY WAS A C-CLOSE CALL.” Papyrus said, slowly pulling himself back up to his feet. He frowned. “ _T-TOO_ CLOSE.”

He stared down at his brother, angrily. “THIS IS _PRECISELY_ WHY YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE WANDERED OUT ON YOUR OWN, SANS!” He cried. “HE COULD HAVE CAUGHT YOU!”

Sans shrugged. “but he _didn’t_. because i heard him coming.” He looked up at Papyrus. “… you did, too.”

The taller skeleton shook his head. “TH-THAT’S NOT THE POINT! IT’S NOT _SAFE._ ” He glanced around the murkiness of the cavern, perturbed. “WE WERE LUCKY! IF HE’D SEEN US - IF HE WAS AFTER US, THEN WE’D BE…”

“but we’re _not_.” Sans sighed. “look, pap. i gotta get to the core as quickly as possible - at least after i know for a fact that gaster’s left the building.”

“I _HEARD_.” Papyrus said, firmly. “AND THAT’S PRECISELY WHY I’M COMING WITH YOU. THERE IS NO CONCEIVABLE WAY I’M LETTING YOU DO THIS ALONE!”

Sans eyes regained their brightness. A part of him was a little relieved to see Papyrus acting like his old self again. 

But moments like these were becoming fewer and far-between.

He closed his eyes.

“…no dice, bro.”

Sans glanced back up to his brother, whose eyes were wide in shock.

“WH… WHY NOT?!”

“… i don’t want you to worry about this.” He said, flatly. “none of this really applies to you, okay?” He shrugged. “all this… it’s just stuff that happened a while ago.”

Papyrus stared at him, incredulous.

 _“NONE OF THIS APPLIES T-TO…”_ He stuttered, shaking his head. “OF _COURSE_ IT APPLIES TO ME!” The skeleton cried, stepping forward. “SANS, I’M _REALLY_ WORRIED ABOUT ALL THIS!”

“…i know you are, bro.” 

The taller skeleton seemed to pause, as Sans glanced up at him, grin faltering slightly.

“and that’s exactly why i’m not sharing any more info than i _need_ to.” He shrugged. 

Papyrus blinked, slowly. “… WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

Blue flickered in both of Sans’ eyesockets. He blinked it away.

“… you’re really not yourself, bro.” He chuckled. “the longer you’re like this. the more you know. you keep, uh… freaking out.” The smaller skeleton looked up at Papyrus. “you don’t need to know any of this stuff, buddy. it’ll just make a lot of stuff worse for you.”

Sans turned away from his brother. “so, uh… just let me handle this, alright? head on back to the lab. wouldn’t wanna make undyne mad, under these circumstances, yeah?”

He began to walk off, his mind changing tracks. He didn’t have a lot of time. Just needed to get into the CORE and back out. He would keep feeling for Gaster’s energy signature - make sure he was far away, first…

“NO.”

Sans stopped in his tracks. 

He slowly turned his head to look over one shoulder. Papyrus had his fists clenched to either side, shoulders hunched.

“NO. I’M… I’M _NOT_ LETTING YOU GO ALONE, BROTHER.”

The smaller skeleton’s eyes grew wide. The orange light was starting to flicker in his brother’s eyes again - and whatever strength he’d had beforehand had seemingly dissolved away. 

He turned fully to face him.

“papyrus. i want you to get back to the lab.” Sans said, carefully. 

His brother looked up at him, starting to tremble. “TH-THEN… THEN YOU HAVE TO COME BACK _WITH_ ME!” He said, as firmly as he could. “SANS… THE LAST TIME I LEFT YOU ALONE, YOU WERE _CAUGHT._ I CAN’T LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN.

The smaller skeleton sighed, stepping forward towards Papyrus. “look, bro - i’ll be able to avoid him, this time. you saw me so it a couple of minutes ago.” He grinned. “c’mon, give me some credit, pap.”

He blinked, when Papyrus stared back at him.

His brother’s eyes were growing a brighter orange than before. He seemed dazed - whatever anger he’d had beforehand had dissolved back into fear.

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND…”

Papyrus stared at the ground, hunching over. “I… I JUST WANT TO _HELP_.”

Sans took another step forward, reaching out to his arm.

“papyrus, hey. _hey_. listen to me.” 

His brother didn’t respond, and Sans grasped his wrist.

“you gotta calm _down_.” He kept his gaze on the glow of his brother’s eyes, hoping they would dim. “it’s okay. you’re _okay_.”

“ _I’M CLEARLY_ ** _NOT!_ ”** Papyrus shouted, eyes blazing. Sans flinched back, withdrawing his hand. 

Startled, the taller skeleton blinked back the orange light, covering his mouth with one hand.

“I-I _KNOW_ I’M NOT.” He added, as if a little stunned that he’d yelled in the first place.

Sans gave a sigh, staring up at his shaky brother. He tried to picture exactly what Papyrus had been like this morning. 

He was having trouble.

“…yeah. you’re right.” 

Sans began to walk past him, shoving his hands into his pockets. “… which is why i'm telling you to get back to the lab. pronto.”

He’d only walked a few steps before Papyrus spoke, once more.

“… GASTER WAS _RIGHT_ , WASN’T HE?”

Sans froze, his eyesockets going dark.

“… YOU’VE REALLY BEEN THROUGH... A LOT. HAVEN’T YOU?”

The smaller skeleton spun around. Papyrus was clutching his head, one eye shut, the other blazing orange.

“AND I… I HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO DO A SINGLE THING TO HELP YOU… HAVE I?”

The smaller skeleton dashed forward as Papyrus fell to his knees. He wrestled his brother’s hands away from his head, grabbing his wrists firmly.

“papyrus.” Sans said, firmly. “what’d i say about _not_ letting the sickness get to you?”

His brother’s eyes shut tight, and Sans' grin grew strained.

“c’mon, bro. you’re _stronger_ than this.” The smaller skeleton loosened his grip on Papyrus, but didn’t quite let go. “you gotta _ignore_ all this. just… stop worrying, okay?”

“… I CAN’T _HELP_ BUT WORRY…” His brother mumbled. His eyes reopened, and he blinked back the orange light, succeeding in making it dim a little bit. “IT’S… IT’S LIKE I’M _STUCK_ WORRYING. SANS, I CAN’T MAKE IT STOP…”

“you gotta _try.”_ Sans tried pulling Papyrus back to his feet, and the taller skeleton barely complied. 

“… i don’t know what the hell gaster _said_ to you.” He said, softly. “but he’s not the kind of guy you should put a lot of stock in. _trust me_ on that.”

Papyrus was silent for a moment. Sans began to pull him along, back in the direction of the Lab, but his brother held fast.

“… HE SAID I WAS DANGEROUS.”

Sans’ eyesockets went black.

“ _papyrus_.”

“… I PUT FRISK IN DANGER.” His brother said, shakily. “I-I TRIED TO ATTACK YOU.”

He felt Papyrus begin to pull away from his hand, but Sans held firm.

“that wasn’t _you_ , pap.” He pulled harder. “c’mon. back to the lab.”

“GASTER SAID - ”

Sans spun on the spot to face his brother, eye sockets still black.

 **“S t o p  l i s t e n i n g  t o  h i m.”** He said, firmly. 

He relented, as Papyrus’ eyes began to glow brighter. 

“stop _listening_ to him, papyrus.” He repeated. “whatever he told you - it’s not _true_. he’s not even _here_ , bro. he can’t hurt you, right now.”

He tightened his grip on Papyrus’ arm. “you don’t have to be afraid of him.”

A thunderous crack sounded.

A crackle of orange energy suddenly surged through his brother.

Sans’ eyes grew wide, as Papyrus yanked his wrist from his grasp with a cry, his orange, glowing eyes watching in horror as his claws began to grow, doubling in length.

“ _GASTER’S NOT THE ONE I’M AFRAID OF!”_ He wailed, stumbling back.

Sans stepped back, eye sockets black as he observed the spikes shooting upwards through the back of his brother’s shoulders.

… It had been too much. 

No matter what he’d said, he couldn’t get Papyrus to calm down.

Through his panic, the sickness had responded - in response to a danger that wasn't there.

His brother had triggered his own change.

Sans scowled.

There was no time to think. He needed to get him someplace _safe_ , before -

“NO… NO!”

Papyrus grasped at his own wrists, focusing intently on stopping the changes as another surge of energy made him grit his teeth in pain. 

His gaze landed on Sans, and in terror, he began to back away.

The skeleton reached out to his brother. “papyrus, _wait!”_

Papyrus shook his head, his eyes shut. “STAY AWAY! S-STAY -“

He stepped backwards onto air. His eyes shot open, growing wide.

“… AWAY…”

Papyrus had stepped back over the edge of the plateau.

Sans placed all of his focus onto a BLUE attack, aiming for his brother’s soul as a startled Papyrus fell backwards with a yelp. 

A loud PING sounded, and he caught him in midair, mere feet from the ledge. 

The cracking and popping of bones caught his attention as the taller skeleton curled into himself, gasping. His soul was in view, glowing BLUE, but Papyrus didn’t seem to be reassured at all, focusing intently on it in concern.

“S-SANS…!”

The smaller skeleton’s eyes grew wide.

The BLUE effect was flickering. The changes were affecting his soul’s energy. It was pulsating and churning with that horrible, violet magic that Gaster had planted into him, and he was starting to lose his grip.

Sans tried to pull his brother back onto the ledge - but before he could do so, a loud spark of energy from Papyrus’ soul broke through the blue effect. 

They locked eyes briefly, in horror.

And Papyrus plummeted soundlessly into the fog, below.


	11. A Difference

Undyne was ready to _punch_ someone.

Punch someone - maybe throw someone soon afterwards. Off a _cliff_.

A snarl developed on her features.

The captain was currently racing out of Alphys' lab and into Hotland, the rocky ground cracking under the force of her footfalls. Frisk flapped around haplessly in her grasp, having been picked up by the back of their shirt, once more. They said nothing about the situation - though Undyne could practically feel the concern radiating off the kid in full force.

And why wouldn't they be?

Undyne's thoughts returned to the matter at hand. She was ready to bash the skeleton brothers together by their stupid numb skulls.

What the _hell_ had they been thinking?!

The group had a plan. They’d _discussed_ it. It was solid - probably one of the cautious plans Undyne had ever tolerated making. They’d made it totally clear that neither skeleton could go on ahead on their own - that leaving either one of them prone for Gaster to swoop in and get them was a terrible idea.

And now... _both_ of them were out somewhere in Hotland. Sitting ducks for some mad scientist to try and kidnap. 

 _Neither_ of them could be that stupid. Not Sans or Papyrus (Papyrus could be overzealous, but…).

She seethed, picking up the pace as she caught sight of the L1 elevator.

...Was it that freaking sickness?

Had it messed with their heads even more than they’d thought? It had been messing with Papyrus' head something fierce, she'd known that - but _Sans,_ too?

Her expression suddenly became thoughtful. 

Maybe it was the sickness messing with him, too - but Sans wasn't the type to just charge into things. Though, more and more impressions she'd had about the smaller skeleton were starting to fall by the wayside.

... What had he been _thinking?_

Undyne approached the L1 elevator, and without stopping for caution, hurled a few energy spears haphazardly upon the silver structure, causing some metal panels to crack and burn. She leapt up each spear, which all crackled wildly as she landed on them - repeating the process as she ascended. No time for pretty little spiral staircases.

By the time she’d reached L3, the tall elevator appeared structurally compromised. Ominous creaking sounded from the silver contraption, and she continued dashing forward as the sound of screeching metal filled her ears.

“… I-I don’t think we can use it anymore.” Frisk said, as the sound of creaking and groaning signified the structure’s collapse into the magma below.

“The freaking thing was broken, anyway!” Undyne snarled as she bolted off down the path, approaching the platforms covered in steel gratings. They were still deactivated, unable to provide steam bursts for elevation - but she cleared several in a single jump, completely bypassing the infuriating puzzle.

When it came to finding Papyrus and Sans, she had only _one_ lead to go on.

The apparently-scrapped plan to send down the elevator to the True Labs.

There was a chance that they decided to get the dang elevator themselves, like the knuckleheads they were. Whether out of stubborness or that kind of caginess that Undyne _really_ didn't care for. She had to run all the way to the CORE (and the sooner she got out of this hellhole, the better. She could already begin to feel her skin drying out again).

If nothing came of that, she would scour the entire dang Underground if she had to.

Her eye narrowed.

And Asgore help Gaster if she found the doctor, _first_. 

Because she was going to kick the _crap_ out of him, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop her.

He'd messed with the heads of her good friends. He'd used them as tools. Weaponry.

The best case scenario for Gaster right now was for him to become one goopy black pin-cushion for her _spears_.

The captain snapped out of her thoughts as the looming spider caverns came into view before her. She was actually a little relieved to see Muffet’s old home. The place was abnormally chilled for Hotland, but in this case, it was incredibly welcoming.

Tearing past the entrance of the cave, she found herself surrounded by the dark purples and violets of the cavern. Spider threads still remained, sharply cutting through the air. Though, glinting off of the gossamer webs appeared to be a blue light that cut through the darkness.

The source was only a few metres in front of her.

It was Sans. He was kneeling at the edge of the plateau upon which they stood.

Undyne felt Frisk begin to twist out of her grasp. She released them, and they both charged forward. Undyne was entertaining the thought of performing a wind-up punch to the damn skeleton when she was close enough - low HP be damned...

...when she realised that he seemed to be in pain already.

He was grasping his head. His grin was strained, and now the captain could see both his eyes flaring up with blue. His claws were digging into his skull, and he seemed to be trembling, his gaze a million miles away.

She blinked.

It resembled Papyrus, back when they’d had that chat. It was a little alarming, seeing that even the relaxed skeleton seemed to be succumbing to the anxious nature of the illness.

Undyne frowned, glancing about a little, noting that Sans was alone.

Where _was_ that other bonehead, anyway?

“Sans?!”

Frisk had reached the skeleton, who seemed to jolt when they grabbed his shoulder. He glanced over to the human, blinking wearily as the blue light began to fade from his sockets. 

_“… kid?”_

He shut his eyes, releasing his head with a shaky sigh. There were no marks left behind from the claws, but he didn't look well.

Frisk stared at him. “Sans, are you okay?” They tried to tug him back up on his feet.

The skeleton suddenly pushed Frisk’s hand off of his shoulder, his eyesockets black.The human stepped back, startled.

_“no time. we gotta get going…”_

Undyne’s face twisted into a snarl. Oh, that was _it_.

Marching up to him, she grabbed him by his hood again, lifting him up to face level. He blinked, startled, the light returning to his eyes.

“Who the _hell_ do you think you are!?! We had a _plan_ , numbskull.” She growled. “We had a plan so _you_ wouldn’t be in danger!”

Sans looked dazed. She glared harder at him.

“And you threw it out the window! For _what?!_ What the _hell_ were you thinking, wandering around on your _own?!_ What if Gaster found you again, huh?!”

She dropped him. He landed in a crouch, unsteady and stunned. It was like her words were going in one end of his empty skull and out the other. She clenched her fists.

“How would we _find_ you, if Gaster started using your teleportation again?!" Undyne said, slowly, to try and make her words sink in. "How the _hell_ would I explain to Papyrus that his brother was turned back into a freaking cannon again?!” She added, throwing her hands up in the air.

“ _papyrus_.”

The captain blinked, upon hearing Sans’ tone. He’d slowly risen to his feet. The daze in his expression had finally given way to focus.

He stepped to the edge of the plateau, looking down into the violet, swirling fog, below.

Undyne stared at the skeleton a moment, confused. Her eye flicked to the chasm. Then back to Sans.

Then back to the chasm.

Her throat went dry.

“… Where the _hell_ is he?” She asked, her eye back on the smaller skeleton. 

He looked back up at her. His eye sockets had gone dark - but despite this, his usual ferocity was absent. He seemed so tired.

“… we gotta get down there.” Sans said, quietly. “ _please_.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

_... He couldn’t stay._

 

_He’d tried his very hardest, but it had been too much. He'd pushed too hard to stay, and the forces were pushing back in kind._

 

_He couldn’t stay here - no matter how badly he wanted to.  
_

 

_He felt the haze descending onto his mind - and he felt his grasp begin to slip._

 

_Fear gripped him, as everything began to slip away. He didn't want to go away. He didn't want all of this to leave._

 

_Would he really disappear?_

 

_… where was he going?_

 

_Where had he gone?_

 

_Everything fell away. Everything he remembered seemed to vanish, and he reached out to where they once were - and was saddened when it seemed like nothing was there.  
_

 

_But..._

 

_... was he really gone?_

 

_Had he disappeared?_

 

_**Could** he even disappear?_

 

_Everything was gone. He felt tired, dizzy - but he still kept reaching for what he was missing. It still seemed out of grasp.  
_

 

_But... Strangely..._

 

_He did feel like something was **there.** Just... out of his reach._

 

 _He couldn't touch it.  He wasn't sure if he would ever be able to reach it._ _But regardless, he found himself settling down._

 

 

_Patiently, he waited._

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

There hadn’t been much time to react. No time to explain, as Sans himself couldn't quite form words very well at the moment.

The skeleton was currently hurtling through the air, being grasped firmly by the skull by an incredibly angry Undyne. He wasn't fazed by this mode of transport - the spacetime tears had given him worse - but her clawed grip was starting to hurt.

A quick glimpse to the side revealed Frisk, sitting on her shoulders and grasping onto her head for dear life. He felt a small pang at the memory of shoving them away - he'd really been in the thick of it.

Though, the situation was pretty severe to begin with. His gaze dropped back down towards the swirling fog, eyes narrowed.

Undyne was currently descending down the chasm using her usual spear method, hurling them forcefully onto the cave walls as she leapt from perch to perch. Shards broke away from the walls, rolling down them in a noisy clatter. The trio was descending rapidly through the thick, swirling fog, the captain making increasingly enormous leaps - as if becoming impatient with with forces of gravity themselves.

“He fell all the way down _here?!!”_ She roared. “What the _hell_ happened?! Why didn’t you _catch_ him?!”

Sans didn't feel so great - though this time, he decided not to let it show so prominently. With that said, his chest constricted at the mention of his brother - recalling the sight of his vanishing over the edge.

... and his claws growing, his body becoming engulfed in violent, orange energy...

“…i’d keep your voice down.” He decided to say. Frisk, still holding on for dear life, looked down at him.

“But he could be _hurt_!” They said, incredulous. "We have to find him soon!"

The smaller skeleton didn’t look back at them.

“don’t think i don’t know that, kid.” He said, softly. “but that’s not the only thing i’m worried about.”

Finally, the ground faded into view. Undyne landed hard, placing Sans down feet-first on the cave floor. Frisk hurriedly clambered down her other side, looking a little frazzled from all the jumping.

The fog surrounded them. The visibility was bad - the skeleton could barely see anything five feet in front of him, but he was almost thankful for it. He wasn't sure if he wanted a clear view of all this at the moment.

“How the heck are we gonna find him in this?” Undyne muttered. 

There was suddenly the sound of loud scraping against stone. Sans' eyes narrowed as a low, animalistic rumble echoed throughout the cavern. 

The trio froze, and the smaller skeleton drew in a deep breath.

“… to answer your question, undyne,” Sans said, as the space grew quiet again, “don’t think we’ll have to wait that long.”

Frisk looked around, as another rumble echoed throughout the cave. They tensed, taking a step back - their expression told the skeleton that they were familiar with that sound.

“… that's...” They turned to the skeleton, a mixture of saddened and terrified. "... he _changed_ again?"

Sans glanced over at Frisk. The kid wasn't looking so good.

“yeah.”

Undyne’s eye grew wide, a mix of fury and concern. “Wait. How the hell did _that_ happen?” She glanced around the fog, scanning it for movements. “Gaster didn't find you guys, did he?”

“nah, this…” He shook his head, deciding to omit the detail that the scientist had come very close to doing so. “… i think this is just the sickness on its _own_. at its worst.”

Sans looked down again, thinking a little more about his old explanation. Being honest with himself, he didn't know all the aspects of the sickness Gaster had made. It was keyed to the scientist, certainly - and Papyrus descending further and further into panic had demonstrated signs of his magic acting erratically - which fell into his next line of thinking.

“… remember what i said about temperament, back there? how blasters _lash out_ when they’re afraid?”

Frisk blinked.

“… it got the best of him?” They asked. “He changed because he was too nervous? Because he _panicked_?”

There was a silence.

"What made him panic so badly?" Undyne asked, frowning. Her eye was still fixed on the fog, glancing around for any sign of her friend.

Sans tensed. This wasn't what he'd hoped to discuss at all.

“… he… we had an argument up there.”

He felt Undyne's piercing gaze on him.

“Argument?”

Sans looked away. “… he wasn’t _meant_ to be following me. i thought he was asleep. back at the lab with you guys.” 

Now he felt the kid's gaze on him. A bead of sweat appeared on his skull.

“… he was trying to sneak after you?” Frisk asked, quietly. "You guys didn't sneak out together?"

The captain's face had twisted into a snarl. Her voice had become low and dangerous.

"He went after _you_. You led him out here."

Sans closed his eyes, wincing at the entire situation.

This was a mess. He was _better_ than this.

“he started panicking.” He continued. “it, uh... it got bad. i couldn’t calm him down, no matter what i said.” He looked up, catching the briefest of glimpses of the highest ledge through the passing overhead fog. “and _then_ …”

There was a silence.

“Damn it.” Undyne turned away from Sans, looking around the cavern once more. “… you think he changed while he fell?”

The skeleton shoved his hands in his pockets, staring hard at the fog swirling before him. He looked tired. 

“i saw a lot of orange light from all the way up there.” He rubbed his skull, a flicker of blue in his eyesockets. “i, uh... didn't see him change completely. heard him yelling something, too… couldn’t make it out.”

The captain glared back at him. She looked like she was at the end of her rope. “That doesn’t explain why you didn’t try to catch him before he _fell_.” She said, scowling. “You could’ve grabbed him by the soul!”

“don’t go thinking i didn’t _try_ , cap.” The smaller skeleton’s eyes dimmed. Then, his body slumped, as if he’d suddenly become tired. Undyne blinked, relenting a little.

“… i _tried_ to catch him.” He said, quietly. “his soul wasn’t responding. it was like it was pushing everything away. couldn’t get a grip on him.”

There was a silence between the trio.

“…This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t ran off.” Undyne said, sharply. Something twinged in the smaller skeleton, and he felt a headache coming on. He'd had enough of this.

Regardless of whether the captain was right.

“…i would have been able to finish this quicker.” Sans said, softly. “i had a better plan, and not a lot of time.”

“Then freaking _run it by us!_ ” Undyne yelled, rounding on Sans. “All this secrecy is ticking me _off_!”

The skeleton stood his ground, shoving his hands back into his pockets. “it’s not anything you need to know. and if i backtracked, i’m pretty sure you woulda _stopped_ me.” His eyes narrowed, flickering briefly with blue. “we just need to finish this before gaster gets what he wants.”

“And you think that’s gonna make this any better?!” Undyne snarled. “You can’t just expect the likes of us, especially not _Papyrus_ , to step back and let you do whatever when you won’t even tell us what’s going _on!!!”_

Sans glared up at her. She was pushing it.

“papyrus is _sick_ , undyne. if i tell him everything, what do you think’s gonna _happen_ to him?" He recalled his brother screaming, grasping his head as he let everything get to him.

"you’ve _seen_ him. he was barely holding it together as it _was -_ ”

 _“Papyrus wouldn’t be so scared if you just_ **_told_ ** _him what was happening!”_

Startled, Sans and Undyne spun to Frisk. Their eyes were shut tight, their hands clenched into fists by their sides.

The skeleton blinked, the blue light fading from his eyes - and suddenly aware of how young and tired they looked.

“kid...” He began.

But before anyone could say anything more, there was another low growl that echoed again through the cavern. 

Sans spun to his side, wide-eyed.

And this one sounded close.

The trio, despite their previous hostility, suddenly grouped together. Frisk scurried to stand beside Undyne, and the captain stood firm, pulling Sans by the hood to her other side. The skeleton activated his magic eyesocket, staring hard at the swirling fog before them.

There was silence, at first. No other sign of movement.

Then, the sound of claws shifting against stone met them.

From the darkness glowed two orange, glowing points of light - only several metres before them. There was a huff and the fog swirled aside from the great beast's breath, revealing a large, skeletal forepaw stepping forward through the mist, landing heavily on the rocky ground.

Undyne stood firm. Frisk stepped back, and Sans approached as the fog cleared, slightly, to completely reveal the skeletal beast. 

The smaller skeleton drew in a breath.

The creature was a couple heads taller than Papyrus’ normal form. His claws clicked upon the ground as he approached, walking naturally (but slowly) on all fours as if he’d done it all his life. A thin, whiplike tail hovered just above the ground. The orange lights glowed in the darkness of his sockets as he came closer, focusing on the small group. He had no discernible expression - he didn't perk up at the sight of them, nor did he seem to recognize them. His face was blank.

Sans' heart sank.

Papyrus wasn’t lucid. He wasn’t _awake_.

It was just like before - the fight they'd had before. Nothing of his brother seemed to remain - only a feral kind of state. His movements, his behaviour… they were all that of a beast.

He wasn't _there_.

Sans tensed at first, prepared to attempt a BLUE attack on his soul as the creature approached, attention fixed on them. He needed to keep him still, before they could get through to him. 

Only…

The skeleton, after few moments of observation, deactivated his eye, blinking.

… the beast didn’t seem alarmed to see them. Not even that nervous.

Instead, he stepped forward, lowering his head to examine Sans curiously. A little unnerved, the smaller skeleton automatically stepped back. The beast huffed, his gaze vacant, but observant.

He seemed interested in Sans, however.

Papyrus' gaze soon turned to Frisk, who leaned out from behind Undyne. The beast seemed especially interested in the human, chirping - as if trying to make sense of the sight of them.

“… What’s he doing?” The captain asked, the telltale crackling of magic dancing around her fingers. Summoning weaponry here was probably a bad idea, but Sans did appreciate Undyne's foresight - a GREEN attack was looking necessary here.

“…don’t think he’s all there.” Sans said, raising an eyebrow. Seeing Papyrus in this state didn't settle well with him. “it’s just like before - we gotta snap him out of it.”

But still, he couldn't help but think that this was… strange. Papyrus wasn’t being aggressive, or fearful. He'd been panicking so much during their argument.

Yet here he was, inspecting Frisk's cautiously-outstretched hand. Fascinated.

 _Curious_.

“Does he look a little different to you guys?” Undyne asked, stepping to the side a bit.

Sans turned to the captain, almost incredulous. “yeah? maybe it's a new haircut.” 

The captain gave him a curt glare. “I _mean_ … the last time I saw him like this.” The captain gestured at the beast, who was now staring at her due to the sudden movement, tilting his head. “Look - that fight back then. The last time he was like this - I’m pretty sure he wasn’t wearing _that_.”

Sans blinked, turning to face Papyrus, who still seemed to be looking at Undyne, his tail flicking slightly.

Peering closer at his brother, he noticed that his old scarf was still present around his neck and shoulders. It looked a lot more tattered than usual, but it was still as bold as ever. 

“… his wrists, too…” Frisk added quietly, pointing.

Sans' gaze dropped to his brother's metacarpals. The kid had a good eye. Tattered red material barely remained there - likely what was left of his gloves. The material looked almost… warped. Threads seemed attached to the surface of his bones, almost as if fused there a little.

Sans frowned, as his brother’s attention was suddenly drawn elsewhere - seemingly bored with the lack of response from the trio. They hadn't made any sudden or interesting movements in a while.

The skeleton gave a quick wave, with some urgency. He'd had enough of seeing Papyrus like this.

“bro… hey, can you hear me?”

Giving a trill in surprise, the beast’s attention was drawn back to Sans. The skeleton had a better look at him, now. He remembered seeing Papyrus minutes ago with his sockets completely blazing with orange light, as the sickness had taken over. Yet now, that wasn’t the case. The light wasn’t filling up his sockets, they remained as small, orange pupils.

Sans caught movement out of his peripheral vision, and Frisk appeared at his side, studying Papyrus intently. They seemed to have gotten over their fear of seeing him in his Blaster form again.

“Are you there?” They asked, and the creature bowed its head low to face them directly. His expression, initially just blank, animalistic curiosity, was starting to shift into something more thoughtful. He looked confused, a little concerned.

He let out a chuff, blinking rapidly. His eyes flicked about slightly, in thought.

“Papyrus, you remember the promise you made, right?” Frisk pressed, gently. They were becoming a little bolder, now, placing a hand on his muzzle. Papyrus stared down at them, rumbling quietly as the orange light in his eyes began to flicker. He was becoming more aware.

“C’mon, Pap.” Undyne added, stepping forward - and Sans could tell that she'd probably had more than enough of seeing her friend like this, herself.  “Snap out of it so I can tell _you_ off, too! You’re not off the hook.”

White light began to flicker more insistently in the skeleton's eye sockets, and Papyrus shut them tight, shaking his head a little with a low growl. Frisk stepped back, as his eyes reopened.

After a few more rapid blinks, the orange faded completely, replaced with white lights, shaped like his usual oblong sockets. His head rose a little, his formerly blank expression shifting into that of sure confusion - into someone who was actually _thinking_.

Papyrus was awake.

He drew in a breath, eyes growing wide in surprise as he grew aware of the world around him. Suddenly, both the instinctual knowledge of his form and his coordination left him - and his limbs began to tremble. Alarmed, he stumbled back, tripping over his limbs - and with a yelp, he crumpled to the ground. 

“Papyrus?!” Frisk rushed forward, hands hovering over the skeleton’s skull. Papyrus huffed, eyes wide and staring up at the human. He let out a strangled sort of growl, eyes lighting up at the sight of them - and then frowned at the sound of his own vocalisations.

“…Okay.” Undyne said, the magic fading from her fingers as she approached. “We snapped him out of it.” She blinked, a little perplexed. “…That was easy.”

Papyrus looked up at the sound of her voice. His eyes widened in recognition, and he chuffed, happily. She frowned back at him, concerned. “What happened, Pap? Are you hurt?”

The beast blinked, shaking his head. He gave a low groan, moving his front legs around on his side and staring at them in disapproval. Undyne put together the pieces and grinned, despite herself. 

“Hah! Four legs are too hard to work with, huh?” She knelt beside him, rubbing his skull with her knuckles. “Well, yeah! You’re only meant to have two!”

Papyrus snorted, withdrawing from her noogie. He still looked a little dazed, his gaze drifting until it landed on Sans.

The smaller skeleton tensed, recalling the events that had led to this situation in the first place - the argument. The falls. And yet, his brother’s expression seemed to light up at the sight of him.

Papyrus looked _relieved_ to see him, and Sans couldn't help but chuckle a little (Who was the one who fell off a cliff, here?). However, the beast's expression faded back into frustration after he'd made a few more growls and chirps. Suddenly perplexed, he made a few more strange sounds, eyes steadily getting wider in alarm.

Sans frowned, approaching his brother as he fell silent, as suddenly processing the situation.

“yeah. can't understand you. bit of a language barrier, there." The smaller skeleton slowly knelt down beside him, placing a hand on his brother’s muzzle. "i’m sorry, bro.”

Papyrus let out a small whine, leaning into it. He stared up at his brother, visibly disappointed at this information - but his expression shifted back into his usual optimistic self, and he raised his head, nuzzling into Sans' side with a chirp. The smaller skeleton couldn't help but feel his grin become a lot more genuine.

“…glad to see you’re okay.” Sans said, petting the side of his brother's head. “that, uh… that was a nasty fall. don’t scare me like that again okay, bro?”

Papyrus looked back at him, concerned. Again, he made a small series of growls, chirps and barks - deliberating and slow as if he was trying again to enunciate. Nothing of clarity came through and he huffed again, frustrated.

“Pap, how about you change _back_ before you try talking again?” Undyne asked, standing up and crossing her arms. “We’re not getting a word you say!”

The beast blinked in response, as the trio suddenly rose to their feet and took a few steps back.

Slowly, Papyrus managed to untangle his limbs. He still couldn’t quite stand, but he managed to fold them comfortably beneath his body.

Sans watched as he took a deep breath, concentrating. Orange electricity began to dance through his bones…

… and then, suddenly, a loud crack sounded.

Violet particles of energy thrummed through the air, and Sans caught the briefest glimpse of the nearby tears in space illuminating with the same colour. The energy seemed to center back in on Papyrus, who flinched, wide-eyed as it seemed to shock him, briefly.

He shook his head, both the violet energy and the orange electricity dying away. 

Sans felt a chill in his bones.

There were no changes. He still looked the same.

Concentrating more firmly, Papyrus' own soul energy started up again, the orange sparking a bit more insistently. But once again, the violet energy suddenly faded into view around him, zapping him and causing him to yelp in shock. All the energy vanished again, as suddenly as it had come.

Eyes wide, Papyrus looked back down at Sans. His brother looked confused and alarmed, and Sans' sternum felt tight.

A little frantic, the beast shook his head at him.

The smaller skeleton’s grin grew strained.

“…what do you _mean_ , ‘no?’”

There was a dead silence.

Undyne stepped forward, wide-eyed. “Pap, what’s the hold-up?”

The beast stared back at her, giving a low whine. Her face scrunched in frustration - Sans could tell that she was having the same thought he was.

He just didn't want to accept it.

“… c’mon, papyrus. try _harder_.” Sans said, firmly. 

He saw Frisk’s hands ball into fists. “You did it last time, right?” They said, trying to hide the shakiness in their voice. “You can do it again!”

Looking back at them briefly, Papyrus focused firmly. His eyes shut tightly. His energy crackled around him, brighter than ever before -

\- and again, the process was interrupted - though this time rather violently. Papyrus let out a high-pitched yelp as the violet energy struck him back with even more ferocity, and stunned, his head fell down hard on the rocky ground. The energy dissolved around him, and he gave a whine, looking back up at Frisk. The human had both hands over their mouth, horrified.

_“… P-Papyrus?!”_

"Oh my God." Undyne was tense, her face contorted into rare concern. “Pap, are you okay?!”

“...he’s not.”

The trio turned to Sans, who had been silent through his brother’s last attempt to change. His eye sockets had gone completely dark. The chill in his bones increased.

Papyrus looked up at him, raising his head a little off the ground. 

“… he’s _clearly_ not.” Sans added. His brother gave a low rumble, startled at hearing his own words being repeated.

There was a silence, as the weight of the situation sank in.

Sans stared at his brother’s claws. At his large frame, at the wicked horns on his skull, at his spiked vertebrae and tail. At his bisected jaw, at his massive teeth. At everything his brother was _never meant to have._

 

At the way his brother was _never meant to look._

 

“… What the hell do we do, now?” Undyne asked, tersely.

The skeleton saw Frisk approaching from his side, walking up to Papyrus's muzzle once more. Sans saw his brother's head move to face the human, but didn't make out his expression, or really listen to whatever the kid was saying.

He was too busy staring into nothing.

Sans felt Undyne's gaze on him, her eye wide in a mix of anger and horror. “...How’re we gonna get him _out_ of here? You can’t lift him out with your soul magic, can you?”

The skeleton ran a hand over his face. His eyesockets were still dark, but they closed as his hand passed over them. When they reopened, the light had returned.

“too heavy.” Sans said, softly. He stared hard at the sight of Frisk quietly patting Papyrus' muzzle.

“and honestly - i’d prefer it if he _didn’t_ budge from this spot.”

All eyes fell on him. Papyrus’ head rose, his eyes widening.

“What do you mean?” Frisk asked, having turned away from the beast.

“i mean that i’d rather keep him out of gaster’s sight.” Sans said, firmly, before looking up and around the cavern. “make sure that he's ' _mist'_ as it were."

He shoved his hands back into his pockets, looking down at the ground. Time to face facts.

"... if papyrus can’t change back, he’s one hand-touch away from becoming a cannon.”

There was a heavy silence. The smaller skeleton felt Papyrus' eyes on him. He didn’t look back.

... Why did this have to happen?

Why to his brother of all people?

“…And what about you?” Undyne asked, coldly. “If Gaster gets to you, he’ll have his freaking teleporter back."

She rubbed at her temple. "And what if _you_ panic, and change?! What if you get stuck in that form, just like Papyrus?!"

There was another silence, as the captain summoned one of her spears.

"I have a better idea. You stay here." Undyne said, firmly. "And I kick Gaster's butt and force him to come up with a way to cure you two!"

Sans gave a bitter chuckle. “yeah. i wish it was that easy. but in order to do that right now, you're going to have to do a bit more than just hurl spears at him."

He saw Papyrus out of the corner of his eye, suddenly perking up to attention. Undyne glowered at him.

"What are you suggesting?"

He looked over at the captain. “i need to get core and destabilise it.”

Undyne blinked, confused.

“… Destabilise it? But it's deactivated." She said, raising an eyebrow. "Power's out everywhere."

"well, yeah. that doesn't mean the core is _inactive._ " Sans said, pointedly. "just means it's not providing enough power to light up the underground."

The captain's expression was thoughtful for a moment. Then it dropped, impatient, and she rounded on Sans.

“… what does this have to do with _Gaster?"_

The spear in her grip crackled, and Frisk and Papyrus leaned away from her the slightest bit.

"...And when the hell did you come up with _this_ plan?!” She shouted. “Is this just another freaking front to running off again?! How can I trust that you're going to follow through with this without leaving us in the dust!?”

Sans flinched. However, Papyrus trilled, as if affirming his brother’s words. Undyne turned to glare at him.

“What? You’re on _his_ side, now? I thought you were sneaking after him!"

The beastly skeleton gave another trill, glancing back towards the smaller skeleton. Sans grimaced, recalling his conversation with Reno.

He really should have checked to see if he was being followed.

“... he sorta _eavesdropped_ on the plan.” Sans muttered. Papyrus gave the captain a firm nod.

Undyne stared hard at the beast. When he didn't relent, she dismissed her spear in a violent crackle of energy, and started pacing back and forth - fists gripped to her sides as she continued to process the situation.

 "Start talking, Sans. Now."

The skeleton's patience was starting to wear thin. They didn't have a lot of time for exposition.

How much time had passed since they had seen the doctor - and narrowly evaded him in his journey to the CORE? How could he explain in the time he had?

How much time did they have _left?_

His gaze flicked to Papyrus, who was staring at the fuming Undyne in concern. He felt the blue light in his eyes flicker a little, and shut them.

It would have been easier if nobody had come at all.

“gaster’s got a foot in the door of existence, to put it simply.” Sans said, his tone strained. “he’s not like other monsters. i think you’ve picked that up from this whole ordeal.”

He looked up at Undyne, thinking a moment.

“long story short - he was _erased_ from existence. and now he’s trying to come _back_.”

Undyne blinked, her expression turning into a skeptical glare which gave him a pang of frustration, manifesting in another flash of blue in his eyesockets. As soon as she opened her mouth, the skeleton cut in.

“and he is very, _very_ close to succeeding. and every minute we’re wasting, he’s piecing himself back together. he’s using the _core_ to keep himself in existence, and if we destabilize that safely, he won't be a problem anymore.”

 The captain's eye grew wide.

"Back in Hotland... When he _retreated."_ She said, quietly. "... The CORE _reactivated_ during that fight. He ran off like a coward when it started up..."

Undyne's features twisted into a snarl.

"But  _Alphys_ was in charge of the whole deal of freaking deactivating it this _morning_. She's the only one qualified to do _anything_ with the facility.” She looked back down at Sans, wide-eyed.

“The deactivation was her last gig - she was _nervous_ about it." She paused. "If _she_ reactivated the CORE... and if Gaster's hanging in the facility... Are you telling me that slime ball might actually have _trapped_ her there or something?” 

She stared down at the ground.

“Is _that_ why she hasn’t responded to any calls? Is that why she hasn’t freaking _packed?!_ ”

Sans’ eyes went dark.

"look, cap. i get that you're worried. but we're running out of _time."_

He sighed. "if gaster succeeds in re-stabilising, he's back for _good._ he doesn't _need_ the core.” His gaze was drawn to his brother. “and i _really_ don’t wanna entertain the thought of what’ll happen to pap and i if he does. and al, too - if she _is_ trapped there.”

…He was concerned for Alphys, too. He really was.

But at long last, his patience was starting to wear thin.

There was a brief silence, as Sans regained the light in his eyes. The blue flickering faded away, and he gave a heavy sigh.

"look. i _know_ i don’t have a good track record right now. i _get_ that.” He looked up at her. “but we need to get this done. and trying to destabilise the core - heck, even just deactivating it - is a risky operation if you don't do it right. if anything goes wrong…”

The skeleton looked out towards the cave exit, far up above them.

“… well, i've heard the implosion’s really meant to be somethin’.”

There was a silence, before he looked down at the rocky ground. 

“we finish this before it’s too late. we keep an eye out for gaster.” He pointed at the captain, without averting his gaze. “if al ain't there, you need _me_ to destabilise the core - and if the doc’s come back to the core in all this time we’ve spent standing around, i really need _you_ watch my back.”

Undyne's eye narrowed.

"Teleportation. Skull cannons. And _now_ , you tell me you know how to operate the CORE." She listed, flatly. "If you tell me you can freakin'  _fly_ next, I can't say I'll be all that surprised."

Before the skeleton could retort, a sudden rumble caught his attention. Sans looked up, hand falling back to his side.

Papyrus was attempting to stand again, focusing hard on him as Frisk stepped away. His expression had grown stern, and he let out a sharp bark, taking a crouched and shaky step forth.

Sans stared back at him, blinking slowly. Papyrus barked again, more insistently.

The smaller skeleton put the pieces together, and his eyes narrowed.

No way.

“you’re staying _here_ , bro.” He said, firmly. “no questions asked.”

The beastly skeleton looked startled at his brother's tone, before abruptly shaking his head in protest. He lowered his head to Sans’ level, giving an insistent trill, a stubborn look developing on his features. Sans glared back, unrelenting.

He saw Undyne move forward out of the corner of his eye. 

“Pap, you _can’t_ go.” She said, sternly. Papyrus broke his gaze with Sans to look over at her, his face dropping. He crooned in protest, and the smaller skeleton saw the captain running a hand over her face, gritting her teeth.

“I know this sucks. It _really_ sucks.” She added, before rounding on them both with a snarl, her hand dropping to her side. “... I’m ready to kick you _both_ so hard that both of you just become _a pile of freaking BONES!!!”  
_

Both skeleton brothers tensed nervously, in unison. She slumped, rubbing her temple again, grumbling quietly.

“…but if Sans means what he says…" She pointed at the beastly skeleton. "... and if you’re backing him up on that front, Papyrus… then we don’t have much time left.”

She looked down at the ground, her expression becoming focused.

“I gotta see for myself if Alphys is okay, and…"

Undyne glanced up at Papyrus, face falling a little, before crossing her arms and glancing away. "...we can’t let you get any worse than you are, now.”

Papyrus looked caught off-guard by her statement. His expression growing stubborn once more, he gave another insistent croon, steadily and shakily stepping forward.

Continuing to persevere when he _shouldn't._

 

**_PING!_ **

 

The skeletal beast fell silent, in surprise. 

He glanced down at his soul, under the BLUE effect. It was firmly pulling him downward. And despite his best efforts of remaining standing, his shaky legs buckled under the strain as he was lowered back to the ground.

Papyrus stared up at Sans, in alarm.

The smaller skeleton’s patience had run out.

His eye sockets had gone dark, once more. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d directed them at Papyrus of all people. He decided it didn't matter. His hand lowered to his side, releasing his brother from the BLUE effect and feeling the collective gazes of everyone there on him.

Sans didn't care, anymore.

**“Y o u ‘ r e  s t a y i n g _h e r e._ ”  
**

There was a dead silence. No more stalling. No more explanations.

No more of seeing his brother like this.

Papyrus stared back at Sans, wide-eyed. He didn't relent - his brother was going to stay here whether he liked it or not. He was going to stay _safe,_ and out of this mess. No matter what kind of expression he pulled, no matter what he did - he couldn't allow Papyrus to get any worse than this.

The beastly skeleton looked hurt, at first. He quietly shrank into himself the slightest bit, head lowering. 

The light returned to Sans' eyesockets, startled when Papyrus’ eyes narrowed into a glare. With a huff, he crossed his forelegs and lowered his head to the ground, facing away from his brother with a low growl that vibrated the ground.

There was another silence, as Sans' expression fell into the same glare.

“… fine with me.” He said, quietly.

“Sans.” 

He felt his rage subside, as Frisk's voice reached him. He didn’t look back at the kid, already tired of conflict. He didn’t have the energy for this.

“What if Gaster comes through here?” They asked, alarmed. “What if he finds Papyrus like this? He’ll find him eventually, if he’s stuck here!”

“… _kid_.”

Frisk turned back to Sans. The skeleton felt his eyes flickering slightly with that infuriating blue light. He blinked it away, rubbing the front of his forehead with the base of his hand.

His gaze fell on the human, and he took a deep breath.

“… what _else_ am i supposed to do?” 

Frisk stared back at him, clearly looking upset. Sans felt exhausted, reflecting on the whole situation. He didn't know what he was more sorry for - the fact that he'd chosen to leave without his friends and family knowing...

... or that he'd been caught.

“… look. i messed up. i know that.” He said, softly. “and now, gaster’s got his claws in my brother something fierce. we really don’t have any more time.”

Sans stared hard at them. He was almost begging them, now. For the briefest of moments, his perpetual grin dropped from his features.

“just let me _fix_ this.”

Frisk stared up at Sans, and the skeleton couldn’t recall ever seeing them look so tired.

Their gaze lowered to the ground. They'd relented.

“… I’ll stay here.” They said, softly. “I don’t…”

Their gaze was drawn over to Papyrus, who was still facing away from his brother (though his stubborn expression had softened, no doubt from listening in on the conversation).

“I wanna make sure he’s okay. Just in case." They turned to the beastly skeleton. "... I’ll make sure he stays calm.”

Sans closed his eyes, a sad smile reappearing upon his features. He couldn't help but be relieved - the idea of leaving his brother unsupervised in this situation hadn't settled well with him, either.

“… thanks, frisk.”

He glanced over to Papyrus, blinking. His brother looked more concerned now than angry, but he still didn’t seem to be interested in looking back at him.

Sans looked back up at Undyne, placing his hands back into his pockets.

“let’s get moving.”

The captain frowned, looking over at where Papyrus lay. “Yeah, yeah… ”

She frowned, then yelled over at him.

_“PAPYRUS!!!”_

The beast was jolted out of his quiet state, head turning to face Undyne, eyesockets wide.

“You sit tight! We’re fixing this, okay?” She said, firmly. “We’re _not_ giving up. So don’t you _dare_ give up, either!!”

Her face fell a little, a rare look of uncertainty upon her features.

“Alright?”

Papyrus’ head rose to face her, alarmed at first, then determined. He nodded his head, firmly.

Undyne grinned. “…Alright. I believe ya, Pap.”

She turned away from the beast. Sans noted her expression growing somber once again. Papyrus stared after her, then finally looked back at the smaller skeleton. 

Instead of frustrated, he just seemed sad. Worried.

Sans’ expression softened, and he turned away.

“… see you later, bro.” He said over his shoulder, hearing the sound of Undyne summoning her spears. He turned to her holding out a hand, and she hoisted him onto her back. He wrapped his arms around her neck, grabbing his wrists.

“Hold tight. I’m not backtracking for you if you fall.” She muttered.

“noted.” Sans said. Then, he paused, quietly collecting his thoughts.

Whether he had reason to or not, he'd put everyone through hell. The captain included.

“…i’m really sorry.” He said.

Undyne didn’t look back at him.

“Sure.” She said, curtly. "Watch the claws."

With that, she hurled several spears up the cavern wall and jumped up, perching on the lowest and steadily ascending up each one, leap after leap.

Sans didn’t look back, at first. Then, as an afterthought, he glanced over his shoulder.

But they were already too far above the fog to see his brother at all.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Frisk watched the two disappear up the ledges. The fog set in above them, and soon, Sans and Undyne had vanished from sight.

They watched the swirling fog for a few more moments in silence, before turning and meandering back to Papyrus. They felt his eyes on him, but they didn’t look back at him.

Quietly, they sat next to his head, hugging their knees.

… It just kept getting worse.

He just kept getting worse.

 _Both_ of them did.

Sans and Papyrus were slowly falling victim to the sickness, and Frisk couldn’t stand it. 

Sans had been handling it better, initially - but Frisk could tell that he was having trouble. He couldn’t seem to relax - he wasn’t really thinking straight, either. His calmness and caginess concealed some kind of desperation. Whatever remained of the calm and kind skeleton seemed to be slowly fading.

And Papyrus…

Frisk’s eyes shut tight.

…Papyrus had been panicking - he’d been letting his doubts take over. It was like everything about the upbeat, cheerful and determined skeleton was steadily being snatched away.

The human buried their head into their knees.

And now… Papyrus couldn’t speak. He couldn’t walk, he couldn’t even stand.

Frisk took in a shaking breath.

It was like he was slowly disappearing. The Papyrus they’d known was being taken away by this sickness. By Gaster. 

They needed to bring him back soon. But the more time that passed… the harder it was to imagine fixing all this.

Harder to imagine the possibility that they would be able to restore their friend...

Frisk was suddenly startled out of their thoughts by a push at their side. 

Hurriedly wiping away their tears, they looked over their shoulder to see Papyrus staring down at them, having nudged them with his muzzle. He had not moved from his lying position, but his head was being held a little higher in the air, attentive.

He looked worried.

Frisk stood up, shaking their head.

Alright. No more tears. They just… had to reassure Papyrus. Make sure that he stayed calm. Make sure that he didn't get any worse.

“It’s gonna be okay.” They said, cringing a little as their tone wavered. “We just have to stay determined. Sans and Undyne will fix this, okay?”

The beast stared down at them, and Frisk noted that his expression seemed to be shifting into further concern. They blinked back their tears, hurriedly wiping an arm over their eyes. They had to try harder.

“I-I swear, you don’t have to worry, anymore. It’s gonna be okay.”

Papyrus gave a soft croon, crawling forward a little, his bones scraping against the ground. Frisk drew in another breath to calm themselves.

“We’ll get you back, a-and then we can go to the surface, and w-we’ll get help - ”

Frisk jolted when the beast suddenly lowered his head down to their level, and curled both paws around them as gently as his could. He pressed them into his muzzle, eyes closing as he let out a low and quiet rumble.

The human blinked. “P-Papyrus?”

His eyes reopened. He still looked worried. But as Frisk felt their tears began to stream down as if unbidden, they were slowly beginning to realize why.

Papyrus wasn’t seeking comfort. 

He was trying to reassure _Frisk_.

The skeleton was hugging them through the only means he could. He was worried for _them_. 

The human placed their hands on his head, starting to tremble. Then, they hugged him as tightly as they could around his muzzle, shivering with suppressed sobs. They felt Papyrus ‘hug’ them a little more firmly, but mindful of his strength. He crooned softly, and Frisk bowed their head onto his skull, silently beginning to sob.

“…I’m sorry.” They whispered, shakily. “I’m so sorry.”

They shouldn’t have been worrying Papyrus. They shouldn’t have been adding to his concern. He had enough to worry about. They didn’t want to make him worse.

They heard another low rumble, and they looked over at an eye socket staring at them from their side. A sad chuckle bubbled out of Frisk, and they hugged him tighter, eyes shut.

This was embarrassing. The human was meant to be the one keeping him calm, after all. But they couldn’t seem to stop crying just yet.

Papyrus was the one suffering from the sickness. He was prone to worry, to panic - to listening to Gaster’s terrible influence. He was trapped in this form.

And yet... he didn’t seem agitated.

His eyes weren’t flickering with that maddening orange light that heralded his panic. He didn’t seem to be struggling to stay awake or lucid. Papyrus did still seem worried. He seemed sad, too.

But… he seemed patient.

Frisk began to relax, their tears beginning to slow.

Above all, he seemed strangely…

… _calm_.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_Sans’ wide and terrified eyes vanished from sight._

_The air rushed upwards, going straight through Papyrus’ bones._

_Doing all he could to suppress his changes, he frantically summoned a bone attack, and hung from the hovering bone as tightly as he possibly could._

_His eyes flickered again with orange energy. The bone flickered and then dissolved out of his grasp. He was falling once again._

_“N-NO!”_

_Papyrus summoned another hovering bone, gripping onto it desperately. It, too, flickered in appearance, and it slipped from his grasp, vanishing into midair shortly after._

_His magic wasn’t responding to his commands. The changes were interfering with his abilities. He couldn’t focus as he plummeted down to the dark, purple depths of the caverns. He tried once more to summon another floating bone, but it vanished as soon as his clawed hands closed onto it._

_Papyrus finally hit the ground hard, on his side. His armour clanged, the noise reverberating around the cave. The speed of his fall had lessened considerably, but the impact had stunned him._

_He felt another surge of energy radiating outwards from his chest and he tensed, curling into himself, clutching his shoulders tightly._

_“NO NO NO NO NO…”_

_Papyrus knew this feeling. He’d been hoping that it would never pop up again - yet here it was. He could feel his bones begin to strain in protest against the illness within them. It was starting to push them out into shapes even more foreign to him._

_It wasn’t him. It_ **_wasn’t_ ** _him - it_ **_couldn’t_ ** _be him!_

_The fear spiked in his chest, and he pushed himself up, grasping the ground tightly._

_“STOP IT!” He cried out. “STOP BEING AFRAID!”_

_It was making things worse… he was getting worse! It was already too late - he was starting to change, and soon, he wouldn’t even be able to remember what he was scared of the first place!_

_He wouldn’t be able to remember Sans, Undyne or Frisk! He wouldn’t remember who he was and then…_

_… he wouldn’t be safe to be around. He would become something dangerous._

_Papyrus eyes shut tight, doing all he possibly could to hold back the changes._

_He didn’t want this. He didn’t want to hurt his brother, or his friends!_

_Gaster may have been the one who did this to him - and maybe Sans was right about the doctor getting into his head - but all Papyrus cared about was what damage he could do - what danger he could be._

_He wanted to keep his friends safe from himself. Gaster was frightening, and terrible - but he wasn’t the immediate problem. Papyrus was losing control!_

_He was helpless. There was nothing he could do. He was afraid._

_Papyrus was afraid of himself._

_The skeleton suddenly froze. His eyes reopened slowly, in response to the thought._

_He blinked._

_“W-WAIT…”_

_…Papyrus was… afraid of himself?_

_The skeleton slowly and shakily pulled himself up into a sitting position, wincing as another wave of magic crackled through his bones. He could feel his body strain again in discomfort as it tried to resist the changes._

_But rather than panic more about them, Papyrus couldn’t help but focus on that single phrase that had passed through his mind._

_Afraid of himself?_

_“BUT…”_

_The orange light in his sockets flickered, briefly - dimming._

_“BUT THAT…”_

_… but that was impossible._

_He frowned. No, more than that._

_It was… silly._

_He shook his head, the orange in his eyes slowly dimming back to his regular black eyesockets._

_How could he, the Great Papyrus, be afraid of himself?_

_He thought hard, drawing in a deep breath to try to calm himself. He was worried about the sickness, and how aggressive it had made him. He was worried for the safety of his friends. He was even worried about… well, worrying. But himself?_

_Papyrus - the Papyrus he knew - wasn’t supposed to be scary._

_He was supposed to be noble, talented, kind - not to mention cool! He was the coolest person of all!_

_He certainly couldn’t forget that! He couldn’t be afraid of someone so amazing._

_Papyrus suddenly flinched in pain, doubling over as the sickness tried once again to change his form. He was still holding fast, but he noticed a few new spikes emerging from the bones on his forearms._

_Papyrus wanted to_ **_stay_ ** _as his wonderful self, stay who he was._

_But…_

_He studied the spikes on his arms. He ran a hand over them, as if trying to wipe them away. It was a silly idea, but he wasn’t exactly sure of what else he could do._

_Papyrus gave a quiet sigh, as the spikes only seemed to grow sharper._

_He wanted to stay as himself. But he was changing. And he was beginning to understand that there wasn’t anything he could do to stop that, now. He couldn’t stop this. And he couldn’t help being afraid._

_His expression grew thoughtful._

_… so, what_ **_could_ ** _he do?_

_He thought back to his conversation with Undyne. He was indeed stuck with this condition… but surely, there had to be something more to do than just panic, right?_

_The skeleton took in a shaky breath, slowly dragging himself back against the cave wall. His form had stretched out slightly longer than his usual state, and his tail had grown to the length of his legs, but he was still doing his best to hold back the change. He cringed as he stared down at his hands again, watching them become more claw-like._

_He didn’t want to hurt anybody, either. That was still a very real danger. He’d just been so afraid - of being hurt, of being destroyed. That fear had controlled him, made him do awful things._

_… and even afterwards, it had still controlled him. He’d become more and more aware of it. He wasn’t himself. He wasn’t in his right mind._

_Where had he gone?_

_Blinking, Papyrus looked upwards to the very top ledge of the cavern. From where he’d fallen. His gaze grew sorrowful, recalling the events that had just transpired._

_“SANS…”_

_Papyrus knew he hadn’t been in his right mind up there._

_He’d completely lost his cool - he’d shouted several things that he’d definitely meant… and plenty of others he did not. Everything he’d had on his mind had come spilling out through his fear._

_His brother must have been so worried, back there. He’d probably be even more worried, now, seeing his brother plunge to the bottom of a chasm._

_Another energy surge ripped through him, and he doubled over again in pain._

_Papyrus wanted to apologise for his panicky behaviour. He wanted to think of a way to make things right, to reassure his brother, but…_

_… now, it seemed he would not have much time left to think things through at all._

_The more he’d resisted and tried to ignore these changes, the more it had hurt. Papyrus knew that soon, he wouldn’t be able to stop or slow them at all._

_He would soon forget everything, and stop thinking, like before. He would stop being himself._

_The idea still frightened him. But…_

_Papyrus adjusted his deteriorating gloves, slightly, noting his thumbs were now becoming small and useless._

_He couldn't help but give a small and quiet “Nyeh-heh-heh” as he leaned his head back against the rock._

_He’d indeed been quite silly about a minute ago. He’d screamed at himself, told himself to stop doing something that he currently could not help._

_Undyne had been right. Somehow, Papyrus had decided to be incredibly hard on himself._

_But… it was still him in there._

_He blinked, realising that was what Undyne had meant. Even if he didn’t feel like himself, that was no excuse to be so cruel to himself! That had simply made him panic… and made all these terrible fears much, much stronger._

_…Right now, he simply needed to hope for the best. Try to calm himself down. Try to figure out a way to better the situation. He had to try!_

_Papyrus curled up on the spot, hugging his knees with a sigh. His breathing was starting to even out._

_…His friends would come after him, eventually. They would find him. And there was no real danger for now - no reason for his beastly self to be so afraid, or nervous (he hoped. Last time, everything that moved seemed to be a threat…)._

_Perhaps Frisk, Undyne and Sans would bring him back quickly, this time. They could snap him out of that state. Surely, it would not be beyond the combined effort of such amazing friends of his!_

_Papyrus shivered a little. He could only hope that he would not give them so much trouble…_

_He took in another rasping breath. He could already hear the undertones of his voice changing into something more beastly. A frightening kind of growl laced his once-wonderful voice. He cringed.  Then, shook his head._

_No! He was still here, so far. So what if he sounded different?_

_He knew it was the sickness that was doing this - making him so unbearably afraid of everything about him._

_Sans had told him that the sickness was_ **_not_ ** _him. And, well, that was true._

_Papyrus placed a clawed hand on his chest, gripping the front of his red scarf._

_… but the sickness was still inside him, wasn’t it?_

_So, he needed to look after himself._

_He needed to be patient._

_Papyrus tried to relax. He didn’t really succeed - he generally had trouble relaxing even before all this had happened (it was such a waste of time!). His entire body was tense, and he still felt so shaken. His thoughts were still racing a million miles an hour._

_Papyrus took a deep breath._

_“IT’S OKAY…” He said, softly, a guttural trill to his voice. “IT’S ALRIGHT. YOU’RE GOING TO BE ALRIGHT.”_

_The fear didn’t fade, but he took another deep breath, closing his eyes._

_“YOU’RE GOING TO BE OKAY.”_

_This strange and terrible sickness didn’t suit him. And its origin, though shrouded in mystery, seemed like a horrible thing to him. He couldn’t comprehend why such a thing had been made in the first place, why Gaster had used it on both his brother and himself._

_But… right now that didn’t matter._

_That sickness was within him. When he figured out how to get rid of it, he would certainly “kick it in the teeth” - but for now…_

_His other hand rose to his scarf, and he took another calming breath._

_Right now… it was part of him. And no matter what, he would still be Papyrus._

_It was still him._

 

 _It was still_ **_him…_ **

 

 _He’d only been sitting there for a few moments, before he heard a loud, thunderous_ **_crack_ ** _inches from his head._

_Papyrus’ eyes shot open in alarm. His gaze fell onto his arms and hands before him._

_Patterns were appearing. Veinlike patterns._

_He saw violet energy branching out upon the surface of his bones. His gaze was suddenly drawn to the bright, violet light shining fiercely through his chest armour, patterned by his ribcage._

_The colour alarmed him, at first - and he suddenly felt very cold._

_He’d seen this sight before._

_Papyrus grasped at his chest, the chill becoming a burning sensation. The light, the colour - the feeling - it was exactly like when he’d first been infected with that awful vial._

_His soul was becoming visible within his ribcage. He could see veins of the violet energy lining its orange surface. He began to gasp, terrified. It was on fire. His soul was on fire!_

_But then, just as suddenly as it had arrived, it began to slowly subside._

_And the skeleton watched as the colour began to fade into something more familiar._

_The veinlike pattern on his bones and his soul began to lose its violet colour, starting from his fingertips. His own natural orange magic was threading its way through the strands, now._

_He blinked slowly at the sight, taking in another deep breath, watching in wonder as the orange energy travelled inwards towards his chest._

_Then suddenly, the remaining violet light completely blinded his vision._

_Papyrus fell hard to his side, and knew no more._


	12. A Screen

Gaster shot through the labyrinth of the CORE facility.

It hadn’t taken long to get there from Waterfall. A good 20 minutes with the Blaster flying at full speed, he’d wager.

He’d been drifting through Hotland a little longer than usual. There had been a distinct possibility that both Sans and Papyrus were still somewhere in the area - unless Sans had figured out a way to invoke his ability to teleport.

Gaster arrived at the control room, frowning as soon as he saw the observation window and the CORE, beyond.

It was stable enough, he assumed. But the energy around it was crackling fairly wildly. He’d need to recalibrate a few things - the strain on the anchor was increasing. He could only assume it was because of his greater presence in reality. His bodily matter was becoming physical.

Gaster stepped off of the Blaster, keeping it summoned for the sake of travelling again as soon as possible. After he’d finished things here, he would travel out in search of his _final_ piece. And through what little awareness of the void remained, he could sense it somewhere in Hotland.

One more piece, and he would be stable. He’d be able to stop relying on this contraption. And then, he would finally have room to breathe.

It was during his approach to the control panel when he suddenly felt a tug on his side and back.

Gaster blinked.

It was an odd sensation. It wasn’t like something was pulling on his clothes, but on whatever… ‘flesh’ he had? Which… was impossible. As fairly amorphous as his body had been at the start of all this, he’d progressively regained his old and distinct form. He should have begun resembling his old, skeletal self again.

He turned around.

Sticking out of his shoulder and side were two stretching and melting arms.

They clung to the Blaster’s side-horns, and even the weapon seemed to be vaguely discomforted by the sight. It didn’t pull away, but began to growl lowly.

The scientist stared, wide-eyed. The limbs resembled thick strands of tar - some parts splitting into twos or threes, but never drooping to the point of reaching the floor.

 

**(How very interesting.)**

 

Gaster blinked. No… it was _troublesome_. He reached up to one of his offending arms, and tugged on it. He only succeeded in tugging the Blaster closer to him. 

 

_(No, no - you have to make them let go of it. You have to will it. They're **your** arms after all.)_

 

The scientist stared at the Blaster once more, before turning away and focusing his attention back to the CORE.

No. Those arms weren’t his. He wasn’t meant to look like this.

He stepped to the control panel once more. It still had a small amount of power from the previous time it had been activated.

Fortunate. He wouldn’t have to retrieve the monster that had powered it in the first place. Seems she had finally outlived her usefulness. This amount of power was all he’d need for now - after he’d regained all of his pieces, there would be no need to stabilise the anchor…

Gaster grew irritated, upon feeling another tug on his shoulder, and focused back onto the controls.

His… ‘new’ arms. It must have been a stabilisation issue. His own physical matter was becoming harder to maintain, the more complete and physical he became. It must have be putting a strain on the anchor.

He’d _always_ had extra hands - but they were merely magical extensions of himself. He could summon and dismiss them at will.

Only now, they were _not_ abiding by his commands.

Gaster scowled, recalibrating the thermal output.

He was _not_ meant to have extra arms.

 

**(How very _interesting_. What more could come of this?)**

 

_(What other things are possible when you're this close to stabilisation - and yet **still** connected to the void?)_

 

Gaster’s frustration manifested in a decisive slam of a button. The CORE’s energy began to calm, and once more, the dark star floated there. It was stable and reliable once more.

The tugging stopped. He felt the hands release the Blaster, felt the arms recede back into his body. It was a very unpleasant sensation, and the doctor grasped at his side hard for any trace that they had ever been there.

Nothing.

He stood up straight, staring hard at the CORE once more.

Had he simply imagined it?

 

**(You felt it.)**

 

_(You saw it with your own eyes.)_

 

Gaster focused on the controls. He turned back to the Blaster. It floated there, docile as ever.

He wouldn’t think on those arms. He had better things to do. And he needed to hurry, in case the small (but infuriating) crew had gotten wise to his intentions.

He couldn’t quite reason how they _would_ to begin with - however, he’d underestimated Sans in the past. He’d underestimated his entire team.

Gaster wouldn’t make that same mistake again.

His eyes narrowed, as he thought back on the smaller skeleton. Sans had always been intelligent. He’d never been content with the ‘hows’ and ‘whats’ - he thought about the ‘whys’ foremost. It seemed that he’d become a lot less... brazen over the years about it - but that simply made him more dangerous. His subtlety allowed him to act quietly. Gaster’s brief glimpses from the void had shown him that the skeleton had operated in secrecy for the most part.

Sans had made very good use of his... _other_ affliction. 

His teleportation had become a much more learned and refined skill.

Unlike back _then_. During the final weeks before…

Gaster stared into the CORE, once more.

Before _all_ of them had…

He turned away from the observation window, marching back towards his arsenal.

Well. It wasted time to dwell, didn't it?

Gaster’s eyes narrowed, and he stepped onto the Blaster, once more.

Regardless, he couldn't help but wonder what he could have done differently to prevent all of this. To prevent his predicament - prevent being locked away in the void all these years.

He sighed, as the Blaster carried him back down the halls of the CORE facility.

Perhaps... the doctor should have simply let the young skeleton _fall down_ back when he had the _chance._

 

 

* * *

 

 

Deep in the CORE facility, Alphys stared dumbstruck at a screen full of static.

The tape recording had finished playing. Not much else had happened during that particular instalment - Sans had recovered the reagent necessary to save the experiment.

The first thing that had struck her was his method in getting it.

One moment he’d been there, and the next - _zap_. He’d walked a little to the left and suddenly he was gone. Alphys had checked the timestamp to see if the footage had skipped - but no. Everyone moved around as normal - and about a minute later, Sans had reappeared in the same spot, holding a vial which he handed to one of the other monsters (Sprig, was it?).

She blinked again, hard.

Had he… really _teleported_?

Granted, that explained a lot. The fact that he’d appear on the front step to her lab when her camera feed had _clearly_ shown him all the way in Snowdin a few minutes ago - and multiple other instances of him appearing out of nowhere.

But… she’d never _seen_ him do it, before.

The events on the tape seemed to continue unremarkably. Everyone was focused on their work, and having a productive day. The five pixellated monsters were a little hard to look at - so Alphys’ gaze was drawn to the only clear figure in the footage.

Sans was quite young, here. The skeleton was small to begin with, but here, he didn’t even look like he was meant to be out of school just yet.

She blinked. A teen and already in a scientific profession.

(Alphys had graduated fairly early herself - though pursued mechanical engineering, instead.)

The lizard had first met Sans in school. They’d studied together - bonded a little through mutual interest (though he cared little for her appreciation for anime). But the skeleton had been something else when it came to quantum physics. One day, when she'd arrived for class, his desk was empty. There was the sudden announcement that he’d been sent off somewhere at the young age of fifteen for an internship. He'd never specified where - and when Alphys tried to think about whether she'd asked anyone else about it, she came up blank.

Alphys frowned.

Well, mystery solved, she supposed. This camera footage showed him working _here_ in the CORE facility, with a team of scientists - wearing a coat with the Royal Insignia on his lapel.

… but she couldn’t remember him ever mentioning anything like that when they'd met up again years after school.

When they crossed paths again, Sans had become quite secretive. Almost infuriatingly so - but this footage was a little concerning. If the insignias told her anything, the group on the camera feed must have been the previous Royal Scientist team.

She fiddled with her claws.

A team that she knew absolutely _nothing_ about…

She looked back to Sans. On camera, he followed people around with an attentive sort of air, but he kept making smart-mouthed comments which were either laughed at or earned him a deep sigh depending on who he was with.

Yet, he listened. He never went off on his own - he seemed to stick close to Gaster, Owel and Reno in particular.

He was laid-back here, too - but…

… a lot more energetic? Was that the right word? A far cry from the confident and carefree skeleton she was acquainted with.

The static reflected in her glasses. She dropped the power cable within her claws to the floor, and stood there in silence. The monitor lost power (no longer conducting her magical electricity)  and the lack of static revealed her wide eyes behind her glasses.

Slowly, she reached back to the tape slot and ejected the footage.

Alphys examined the tape in her claws. It seemed the slightest bit more… solid. Corporeal. It still seemed to flicker a little and fade out of existence, but…

What was this footage? Why was it down here? And… why was it portraying what could only be the previous Royal Science team?

When Alphys was as the Royal Scientist, she expected to know about who you’re replacing. That had never happened. “You can create a robot with a soul? You’re hired. You start in a few days.”

She didn’t even really have a team to work with. She faltered a little at the thought of that. Maybe if she had, she wouldn’t have made so many mistakes…

Alphys frowned.

Though, come to think of it, she couldn’t remember the achievements of the previous science team that had worked here. Nothing so notable. No achievements, no disasters - It was as if she was the first Royal Scientist in 30 years. And that couldn’t be right - she’d only taken up the mantle in the last few.

Her gaze drifted back to the security tapes.

Her initiation told her nothing about the previous team. Nothing about the previous scientist.

She frowned.

Nothing about Sans, that was for sure… He’d never said a word about it.

Alphys walked over to the shelf and replaced the tape in the empty space where she found it.

Curiosity prodded at her. She knew she probably wouldn’t have a lot of time to go through them all. It was hours of footage, and she didn’t know how long she could stay holed up here for.

She thought, hard - scanning the tape labels, each one marked with a date.

When had Sans left school, again? It had been such a long time.

Going on her gut, she picked a tape from the same year they had attended classes together, and placed it in the player slot.

It seemed to be a dated few months before the first tape she’d watched.

Picking up the power cable again, she watched as the screen sparked to life.

Another roar of static sounded, and she glanced over her shoulder nervously, hoping that the sound hadn’t alerted anyone to her presence.

**_“Trial number 7. Let’s try this again.”_ **

She spun back to the monitor.

And blinked.

The location was different. It wasn’t a part of the CORE facility - instead it was a more enclosed space. There were no benches or chemistry setups - just a room with a tiled floor with several hallways branching off it - and in the centre of it all, a large glass tube containing a strange contraption that seemed to surround a small, glowing ball of light.

Alphys’ heart sank, as her eyes darted around the room.

… She recognised the layout. It was the True Lab. The sickly green tiles and neon lighting were all bright and new. The tiles were a pale grey, and well-maintained. The lights were dimmed, but the room was still illuminated from whatever was going on in the central apparatus.

 ** _“No promising responses for the time being.”_** Sighed a voice - and Alphys recognised it to be the ‘Gaster’ doctor from the previous video. He was standing close to the tube, a clipboard tucked under his arm. He still looked pixellated - much like his previous appearance.

 _“Well, we’ve been throwing the coolants at it. Half of all the kinds we’ve got!”_ Another voice sounded, as two more figures walked onscreen. One sea green and the other red. Both still pixellated.

Alphys thought a moment. ‘Owel' and ‘Reno,’ right? It was Reno who had spoken.

 _“If nothing responds well, then we’re just going to have to keep using ice blocks to keep cooling the CORE.”_ Owel added.

 _“Several blocks at once!”_ Reno cried. _“We can’t ask the residents of Snowdin to keep throwing them! The ice burns! The frostbite! The brainfreeze!”’_

 ** _“There surely must be a better way.”_** Gaster said, perplexed. **_“It won’t do to have a group of people constantly throwing ice in order to prevent a meltdown.”_**

There was a pause.

_“i’m sorry, doc - but there’s always gonna be melting if ice is involved.”_

Alphys joined in with the groan that came from Reno as Sans appeared onscreen, casually scribbling on a clipboard. Owel approached him, and Alphys could barely make out a stern look through the pixellation.

 _“Not the time, kid.”_ She said. _“Are you doing margin scribbles again, or are you actually recording the numbers like I asked?”_

 ** _“Go a little easier on him, Owel.”_** Said Gaster, nervously waving both hands. **_“He hasn’t been here long. He’ll learn.”_**

 _“And that’s why I’m coming down hardest on him now.”_ The monster said, not breaking her gaze on Sans, who seemed to shrink back a little, his smile a bit strained. _“You can goof off and laze in the break room all you like, but as long as you’re in this lab, you answer to_ ** _all of us._** _”_  
****

There was a brief silence.

Reno raised his hand, hesitantly

_“I-I’m actually not qualified to be in a position of authority until next month - ”_

_“You answer to_ ** _most_** _of us.”_ Owel amended in the same tone.

 ** _“Just understand that it’s for safety protocol, Sans.”_ ** Gaster said, holding his hand out to one side. **_“We’re not doubting your talent. However, working in this field means countless possibilities. And a lot of those possibilities can be dangerous.”_**

Sans looked up at them, blinking slowly. _“gotcha. so… listen to you guys and make sure things don’t explode?”_  
****

There was a pause.

 _“I like this kid!”_ Reno said, brightly.

 _“I’ll like him more when he demonstrates the ability to listen a little better.”_ Owel said - though her tone was goodnatured. _“Alright - let’s keep going. Unless you’d like to skip lunch break.”_

After a pause, the small skeleton stood up straight, dutifully and Alphys couldn’t help but snicker a bit at the sight.

 _“You’ve been recording those figures like we asked?”_ Owel asked.

 _“they’re all the same, ma’am.”_ Sans rebuked, holding up the clipboard and she inspected it. _“a little difference with the second coolant.”_ He pointed at the charts. _“but the thermal output just peaks here and here…”_

Gaster peered at the chart. **_“That’s no good. We’ll avoid that one in the future.”_**

Already, Reno had hurried to the other side of the room and picked up a container of fluid, turning and taking it to another room.  
****

Sans blinked. “where’s he going?”

 ** _“Taking that particular coolant far away from the testing chamber.”_** Gaster said. **_“Better to be safe than sorry. I’d rather not have this energy grow any more volatile.”_** He lifted up his clipboard and began to scribble some more notes, and Alphys blinked at the sight of two magical floating hands suddenly materialising over his shoulders. One reached up and adjusted his lab goggles.

The smaller skeleton glanced back at the energy ball in the glass tube. _“but isn’t this like… a fraction of the core?”_ He turned back to Gaster, a little startled. _“it’s_ ** _that_** _unstable?”_  
****

**_“It’s the only way we’ve been able to create magical electricity from a thermal source.”_** Gaster said. **_“For now, at least. I’d like to pursue a less dangerous method.”_** He thought a moment. **_“Perhaps the humans have figured something out.”_**

 _“but we’re underground.”_ Sans said, shrugging with a hand. _“there’s no way to go to the surface, yet.”_  
****

Gaster chuckled. ** _“‘Yet,’ you say.”_** He looked over at the glass tube. **_“All in due time, I believe. For now, we simply work with what we have, for the people who are here.”_**

 _“Stay focused, doctor!”_ Reno had re-entered the room, and Gaster tensed, suddenly aware of his tangent.

 ** _“Er… apologies.”_** He looked back down at his clipboard. **_“Back to the coolant - we still need to take caution, even if this sample of energy responds well to a certain formula. It remains to be seen if the full size will be stable after it’s administered.”_**

Sans stared at the tube, frowning. _“so - we just keep throwing stuff at it and see if it blows up?”_

 _“But we_ ** _write it down._** _”_ Reno said, looking back at him. _“Things explode, and we write it down.”_

Owen shrugged. **“** _And_ ** _that_** _is what it means to be a scientist, kid.”_

The skeleton looked up at her, blinking. _“… really?”_

Gaster crossed his arms. **_“That’s… a very rough way of putting it.”_** He said, flatly. **_“Science isn’t as orderly as many of us hope for it to be.”_**

He looked back at the tube. **_“Learning how to stabilise the CORE at_** _all_ ** _was a happy accident on my part. We only saw success after several instances of… explosions.”_** He muttered. **_“And writing out what didn’t work. Slowly mapping things out based on what we knew and what we’ve had to figure out for ourselves.”_**  
****

Gaster stood back, rubbing his temple.  
****

**_“And sometimes it… just doesn’t work.”_** He shrugged. ** _“Then you move on and see what does.”_**

 _“This is an experiment, doctor. Not a lecture.”_ Owel said patiently, a note of humour in her tone. Gaster seemed to freeze up, letting his hand drop to his side.

 ** _“I-I apologise.”_** He turned to Sans, who had been staring blankly at the doctor during his entire spiel.

**_“In any case, we should continue with the experiment. We’ll look at this variable and then go for lunch afterwards.”_ **

The younger skeleton blinked.

 _“oh. good.”_ He stuck a hand in his lab pocket and fished out a fairly mashed-up hot dog. _“i didn’t have to sneak this in.”_

There was a pause as all three scientists reeled back (and Alphys buried her face into her claws from secondhand embarrassment).

 _“You’ve broken_ ** _five_** _different work protocols.”_ Reno said, shakily.

 _“I’m almost impressed.”_ Owel muttered.

 ** _“Please tell me you haven’t been eating those here.”_** Sighed Gaster.

 _“i’m not supposed to?”_ Sans asked, looking over at the hot dog.

 ** _“Not in the lab. Magical radiation, and other factors.”_** The doctor swiped it with one of his floating hands. **_“We need to teach you how to store things in a magical inventory. Your things will be safer that way.”_**

 _“He’s just going to get sneakier if we do that!”_ Reno cried.

 _“I’m going to go through the rules and regulations again with you during lunch break.”_ Owel said, flatly. _“And we’re not letting you back in the lab until you can recite them to us line-by-line, kid. Capisce?”_

Sans gave a nervous half-smile.

_“yes, ma’am.”_

**_“Let us get this underway. Everyone behind the safety line.”_ **

The trio of scientists began to walk offscreen, though Sans remained alone at the tube, staring at the energy ball.

 _“Do you think he’ll actually start paying attention?”_ Reno whispered, hushed. _“I know it’s early days, but…”_

 _“He’s recording readings well enough. It’s not like we’re giving him the heavy duty things yet.”_ Owel said. _“Still, we need to keep a close eye on him.”_

Gaster shook his head. **_“True enough. But give him a little more time.”_** Alphys could barely make out a smile behind the pixellation, as he turned to look over his shoulder at the skeleton. ** _“I think he’s more perceptive than you realize.”_**

They disappeared off camera. Sans was keeping his distance from the tube, oblivious to the scientists’ mutterings. He clicked his pen in thought, slowly stepping away as he halfheartedly trailed after the group.

 _“write it down, huh?”_ He muttered, quietly.

Alphys watched as he turned and hurried after the trio.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The MTT resort was dark.

The massive neon sign above the awning to the entrance had fizzled out. The building was cast into a dark shade of orange - the light from the magma of Hotland barely reaching it.

Undyne glanced up at the sign, making a face. She’d never really cared for Mettaton and his gargantuan ego.

Her gaze dropped to what should have been the first point of interest - the glass door.

It was shattered. Several shards sparkled upon the red carpet, the majority lying indoors - as if the door had been blasted from the outside.

“… looks like someone was in a hurry.”

Undyne’s face scrunched in irritation, and she glanced over her shoulder at Sans, who was still clinging on her shoulders.

She frowned. “You better not be napping, back there.”

The skeleton glanced up at her. “couldn’t if i tried.” He admitted, though the captain could see the shadows beneath his eyesockets.

She growled as she stepped into the resort, glass shards crunching underfoot - and stopped a few feet away from the mess.

“Well, good. ‘Cause your free ride ends _here_.” Undyne unfastened Sans’ arms from around her neck and let him drop behind her. She summoned an energy spear. “Keep up and stay out of sight if that slime ball is around.”

Sans nodded, but said nothing else. Somehow, that irritated her even more.

It was pitch black in the main hall, but Undyne’s spear provided a suitable amount of illumination. The fountain centrepiece was switched off, but the water still remained. Cringing, the captain reached over and splashed a bit on her face.

Thankfully, she was now past all the magma - so she’d never have to resort to such desperate measures to stay hydrated _ever again._

Sans approached from the right, glancing down at his warped reflection in the fountain.

He cringed.

“yikes. looks worse every time i see it.”

Undyne watched as he walked around the fountain and towards the hall that led up to the CORE entrance. She followed, spear resting on her shoulder as she looked around.

“Not much worse than usual.” She muttered, before her thoughts turned to Papyrus. “…At least _you_ seem to be keeping it together.”

Sans turned to look at her. “run that one by me again?”

The captain raised her hand. “Hey, no. I’m not trying to insult Pap here.” She sighed. “Just… I’m ready to get that sickness out of him as soon as we can.”

Undyne looked aside, frowning a little.

"Sorta ready to get the old Papyrus back, you know?" She began to twirl her spear absentmindedly. "Need to get him back in focus. But with this sickness, we gotta deal with things the hard way."

She shrugged. "I mean - I’m up for the challenge! But…” She let her hands fall to her sides, gripping the spear tightly in her left.

“… not like _this_. This is all messed up. _He’s_ all messed up.”

She suddenly collided with (and nearly tripped over) the smaller skeleton. Irritated, she stepped back.

Sans had stopped walking. He simply stood several feet away from the resort exit, staring hard at it. The white light in his eyes had shrunk into pinpricks.

Undyne stepped around him, looking at his face.

“Uh… Sans?”

He took a step back.

“we…”

Sweat was beading on his skull. Undyne blinked, as the skeleton took another step back from the exit. His sockets were dark at first, but soon became alight with a flickering blue.

“we have to leave. we can’t stay here.”

The captain’s temper flared. Oh, come _on_.

“You’re chickening out _now?!_ ”

The skeleton raised his hands to either side of his skull and gripped it, teeth clenched, his claws digging into the bone. His gaze was still fixed on the CORE entrance, before dropping to the floor.

“yes… _no.”_ Sans blinked, startled, as if correcting himself. His eyes were flickering wildly. “… i _can’t_ leave. still gotta…”

He shook his head. “… we have to hide. _just_ hide. quickly.”

“We came all this way and we’re just gonna _hide?!_ ” Undyne stepped in front of him, glaring. “Weren’t _you_ the one saying we had a time limit on this thing?!”

Her face fell when she saw Sans’ expression. His eyes were alight with blue, his grin straining and steadily dropping.

 _“please.”_ He said, shakily.

There was a thrum in the air. A low, electric buzz.

Comprehension dawned, and Undyne wasted no time.

She dismissed the spear and tucked the skeleton under her arm with one fell motion. She dashed off down the hotel room hallways. At the furthermost door she opened it and flung Sans in, before turning around and closing the door at a crack, peering through.

She saw a glimpse of Gaster as he shot past through the main hall, completely disregarding the hallway they’d fled down.

He was standing astride a Blaster. She felt a pang of alarm at first - initially wondering if he’d found and captured Papyrus. But the skull shape was much too different, from what she’d seen.

She heard the tinkling of glass shards as he shot out the resort door.

Then, there was silence.

Undyne let herself breathe out. Damn it. Running away like a _wimp_. Though, she really couldn’t take chances with Sans being in plain sight. Who knew what would’ve happened if they tried to fight him now?

Reminded of her accomplice, she turned to look at the skeleton.

Sans was sitting, his back against the front of the bed. He’d pulled his hood over his head, though there were notably a few holes in it now from his skull spikes. He sat cross-legged, his claws in his lap, and stared down at the carpeted floor.

His eyes were flickering blue, but slowly dimming as the seconds ticked by.

“… gimme a sec.” He said, finally.

Undyne frowned thoughtfully. She stood next to the doorframe, leaning back on it and crossing her arms, glancing down the hall periodically.

“… It’s gotten really bad for you too, huh?” She said, quietly.

So much for keeping it together.

She suddenly couldn’t see any more blue flickering out of the corner of her eye, and she glanced over at the skeleton whose head had dropped forward, eyes shut. Undyne blinked, suddenly concerned.

“You okay?”

There was a silence. When Sans next opened his eyes, the blue had subsided. No signs of flaring, no signs of acting up.

Undyne couldn’t say for sure if he looked any better, though.

“… that was close.” He said, finally. Then, his eyes closed again.

“think his influence is getting stronger.” The skeleton muttered. “didn’t even _see_ us, and i was…” He rubbed at his skull, grimacing, before he looked up at Undyne.

“… it was close.” He repeated.

The captain uncrossed her arms, raising her brow. “…You think you would have… changed? Then and there?” She glanced down the hall again, cautiously. “Like Papyrus?”

It wasn’t a pleasant thought. Back there, Sans’ eye sockets had been practically blazing with blue energy. At the height of his panic, his own energy seemed to be working against him - paralysing him and blinding him.

Undyne frowned. Just like…

She thought back to her talk with Papyrus, back at Alphys’ lab. His eyes had been glowing pretty viciously with orange energy, at the peak of his panic.

Her eye widened in mild horror. How close had Papyrus been to changing back _then_?!

“i got it under control.” Sans said, waving his hand in reassurance. Undyne didn’t believe a word of it.

“Your plan was to try messing with the CORE, when you’re freaking out the moment that guy’s in the area?” She asked, quietly. The hostility was absent from her tone, however. Sans really _was_ having trouble with the sickness. She’d sort of been assuming that the guy was being infuriatingly secretive and irrational on his own, but…

No. Sans was _struggling_. It’d been hard to really tell with him - Papyrus was a little more open about the whole deal.

Sans had barely mentioned his discomfort til now.

“… i guess i was sorta hoping i’d hold out better.” He admitted. “pap succumbed. but, uh… _he’s_ only had the sickness for a day, tops.”

There was a silence. Sans blinked, blearily, as if suddenly aware of what he’d just said.

Undyne’s eyes narrowed.

“… How long have _you_ had it?” She asked.

When they’d found Papyrus, he had mentioned a vial. A violet vial, as Sans had later elaborated. But she’d never seen anything like that when Sans had first changed, back in Snowdin.

There were a lot of things he was choosing to keep a lid on about. Knowing so much about the illness. About Gaster.

She didn’t like it. It irritated her to no end - and it seemed to be at everyone’s expense.

Even his own.

“… do you really think not saying anything’s gonna help us?” She asked, carefully.

Slowly, Sans managed to pull himself to his feet. He stumbled on the spot a little, drawing in another breath.

“i’ve… i was infected a while ago.” He admitted. “but it wasn’t an issue. with gaster… not existing and all.”

Undyne blinked. Oh yeah. That _other_ freaking thing that made no sense without an essay.

“it only started being an issue when gaster got back to this realm.” He continued. “he could… start manipulating the sickness again, you know?”

Sans seemed to relax a bit, and then began walking towards the door.

“if he properly materialises here - i’m not sure if it’d _matter_ if pap and i ran and hid.” He peered down the hall. “… and if it doesn’t, well - we’d still probably always be running from him unless someone finished him _off_.”

Undyne didn’t know what to say about that.

She stared down hard at the floor.

A future where the skeleton brothers stayed sick - in which they either became mindless weapons, or got worse and worse because some maniacal scientist had mistaken them for arsenal, and chosen to hunt them.

“…If you need it… I can be that someone.” Undyne said.

The skeleton looked back at her in surprise.

“… i appreciate the offer.” He said. “but, uh… there’s a chance you’d have to take both pap and i down, too.”

“Then I guess we stop having this lovely little chat and finish this _now_.” Undyne said, firmly.

She stepped past Sans and hurried down the hall, peering around the corner out the shattered glass door to Hotland. There was no sign of Gaster, but the smaller skeleton who trailed after her seemed to be getting increasingly tense.

“yeah…we’re running out of time.” He said, quietly.

Undyne paused. Sans was shaky on his legs. Tired. Stressed.

 _Slow_.

Undyne reached out and tugged the skeleton up by the back of his jacket. He grunted in surprise as he was lifted back up to her back.

“…i thought you said - ”

“I’ll get us there quicker.” She muttered. “Also making sure you don’t run off again.” She peered over her shoulder. “If this plan falls through, I’m going to use whoever’s nearby as target practice and you _better_ be far away.”

Hesitantly, Sans placed his arms over her shoulders and grabbed his wrists, secure.

“gotcha.”

They tore off across the room and down the northernmost hallway.

The dimmed CORE entrance awaited them.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Within the facility, Alphys fast-forwarded through to the next tape.

The daily routines of the scientists weren’t anything incredible. By this point, she admitted that she was doing this out of curiosity. She’d probably need to keep moving soon - though, she still wasn’t sure about how safe it was out there. The CORE had crackled rather violently a few minutes back.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when something changed. It was a different camera feed from another room - she still recognised it as the True Lab, but it was in the main hall.

She blinked. Though, instead of beds being set up, there were many benches with chemistry sets upon them. Only one seemed to be in use.

There was also what looked like an intelligence centre set up on the far wall, with a large screen. It looked like a much older model of what Alphys had used in her surface lab when she’d been tracking Frisk through the Underground. She couldn’t see if it was being used for camera footage, though.

Three monsters were around. Reno was pacing back and forth with increasing speed. The blue monster, Sprig, was focused intently on the chemistry set. The large and orange monster resembling a head was at the controls of the intelligence centre. 

 _“… If you’ve got time to pace yourself until the tiles wear out, Ren, you could be helping me get through all these.”_ Sprig said. It sounded like he was speaking through clenched teeth.

Reno stopped in his tracks. _“I need to get through_ ** _this_** _first!”_ He clutched at his head. _“There are many, many untold possibilities! He could have fallen off the Riverboat! He could have tripped and fell off the moving conveyor belts! The_ ** _human_** _could have gotten him - ”_

 _“I’m trying to forget about all that right now.”_ Sprig sighed. _“Save your ‘untold possibilities’ for safety procedures, where they’re helpful.”_

 _“We’ve never had a kid in our ranks, before!”_ Reno said. _“Kids are impressionable. Reckless! And we’re_ ** _responsible_** _for him!”_

 _“I do believe he is simply late.”_ Said the orange monster. _“Reports from the outside have been promising, so far.”_

 _“He’s still in danger, Val!”_ Reno cried. _“He could be at the receiving end of someone’s wrath! Lost to the winds!”_ He grasped his head and leaned backwards to the point where Alphys was quite confident he’d be able to win any kind of limbo contest. _“Beyond_ ** _any_** _hope of return!!!”_

 _“…or he could be standing right here?”_ Came a surprised-sounding voice.

Sans appeared onscreen. Reno, and even Sprig, suddenly seemed to relax at the sight of him. Even the composed Val turned away from the controls to look at him.

 _“the river person was running late.”_ The skeleton said, blinking.

 _“OH THANK ASGORE.”_ Reno threw his hands up in the air.

 _“Are you alright, dear?”_ Val asked, gently.

 _“uh… yeah?”_ Sans asked, slowly stepping further into the room, a little more cautiously upon seeing Reno. _“…why wouldn’t i be?”_

 _“Yikes, kid. You’ve really been out of the loop.“_ Sprig muttered, notably shakier than usual. _“We got a call from the Guard about twenty minutes ago. A human’s fallen into the Underground.”_

The skeleton froze. _“what?!”_

 _“No sign of hostility, so far.”_ Sprig paused. _“… seems to be armed with a frying pan.”_

Sans blinked. _“that… doesn’t sound so bad.”_ He grinned. _“no need for, uh, pan-demonium.”_

 _“IT’S THE WORST POSSIBLE THING!”_ Reno had suddenly held the startled skeleton up by the lapels of his lab coat. _“Humans are the most dangerous creature on this earth! Us monsters are nothing compared to the wrath of_ ** _one_** _! You were lucky to get out of there ALIVE.”_

 _“Deep breaths, my dear.”_ Val said from the controls. Reno relaxed, politely placing a rather stunned Sans back down on the floor.

 _“Okay.”_ He said.

 _“They were last spotted over in Waterfall.”_ Val continued, turning back to their work. _“They fell down from the old Ruins side of the caverns and walked the rest of the way.”_

 _“the ruins side?”_ Sans asked, thoughtfully. Suddenly, he flinched.

“ _wait!”_

The trio turned to look at him again. Alphys was taken aback at the incredibly concerned expression on his face.

 _“does that mean they went through_ ** _snowdin_** _?!”_ Sans ran over to Val, his sockets wide and smile dropping. _“is papyrus okay?!”_

There was a pause, as Sprig looked at him, perplexed.

_“…Who’s Papyrus?”_

_“Your brother should be fine.”_ Val said, nodding reassuringly at the skeleton. _“The human passed through Snowdin without incident. The Guard sniffed them out and chased them to the other side of town.”_ Alphys could see Val smile beneath the pixellation. _“I would not worry, my dear.”_

Their expression returned to neutral. _“But it would be safer for you to remain in the facility for the rest of the day until we receive an update on our security.”_ They turned back to the controls. _“That, or one of us accompanies you back to Snowdin.”_

Gaster chose that moment to enter the room. He noted Sans’ appearance, and hurried on over as if concerned.

Sans didn’t seem to notice him. He didn’t look that reassured by Val’s words. _“he’s all alone over there.”_ He paused. _“… the hotel lady’s taking care of him, but…”_

 _“H-hey, kiddo. He should be okay.”_ Sprig said, in an attempt to reassure him. _“Don’t, uh… don’t worry about it. I’m sure he’s safe.”_

Sans seemed to stare into space for a bit.

 _“…okay.”_ He said, his tone resigned. Gaster approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

 ** _“The Guard will sort all this out.”_** He said, nodding. **_“It is good to see you safe. There have been far more aggressive humans in the past.”_** The doctor looked over at Val. **_“… we’ll continue our tests as scheduled, but any sign of danger and we hole up in the basement. Alright?”_**

 _“Understood, doctor.”_ The large monster nodded. _“I will keep an ear out.”_

Gaster released Sans, looking down at his clipboard once more. **_“Oh - Reno. You may need this.”_**

One of his floating hands placed a strange scientific instrument into Reno’s waiting palm. The monster tilted his head at it.

 _“Oh! I was just about to… ask for one?”_ He looked back up at the doctor, confused. But Gaster was already striding over to Sprig, a green vial held in his other hand.

**_“And for you, my friend. I’m sure that’s all we will need to test.”_ **

_“Wh - oh.”_ The monster stared at the vial in his hand. _“We haven’t tested the other variables, yet.”_

 ** _“It’s alright.”_** Gaster said, walking off into the next room and scribbling down some more notes. **_“Run the other tests if you like - I am very confident that’s the one.”_**

Sans stared after him, snapping out of his low state for a moment in surprise.

 _“… ‘And for my next trick…’ ”_ Sprig said, in a showman’s voice. Then, he sighed. _“… I guess we’re sticking with this one, then.”_

The skeleton turned to face him, wide-eyed.

 _“hey, wait - just because he_ ** _said_** _so?”_ He asked. _“…weren’t you guys talking about ‘proper lab protocol’ or whatever a couple days ago?”_

Sprig turned to face him. _“Ideally, yeah. We should test_ ** _all_** _the variables. But if the doctor’s insistent on one, then… he’s always right.” He added, frowning. “Or more like, he’s always been right.”_

 _“It’s a peculiar trait of his.”_ Val said, glancing back. _“Some days, he cannot recall where he has left his goggles. Other days, he is entirely knowledgeable of experiment outcomes, and what each of us happen to need.”_

 _“N-not that he isn’t still brilliant otherwise!”_ Reno pointed out. _“Just - days like these, he’s scarily on-point!”_

 _“Kinda like he knows what’s coming next.”_ Sprig shrugged.

Sans raised a brow. _“huh.”_ His gaze seemed to drift down to his shoes, absentmindedly. He didn’t seem to be interested in the topic, anymore.

Sprig seemed to stare at him for a few moments. Then, he gave a sigh, gesturing with a hand.

_“…Would you like to call your brother?”_

The skeleton looked up at him, blinking. _“uh… you sure?”_

 _“You’re gonna be zoning out even more than usual if you’re left in suspense.”_ He jerked a thumb to the hall. _“Phone’s in the mess room.”_

Sans brightened. _“thanks, sir!”_

_“Whatever. And don’t call me that.”_

The skeleton disappeared out the room and off camera, and Sprig turned back to the chemistry set. He glanced over at the line of vials in the wooden holders, and back to the main beaker. Making a face, he popped the cork off the vial that Gaster had given him, and hesitantly let a drop fall into the concoction.

A wisp formed above the liquid, which now glowed a bright blue.

Sprig stood up straight, adjusting his goggles.

 _“Right again, doc.”_ He sighed.

 


	13. A Friend

The CORE facility was silent.

The clouds of steam that were usually present far beneath the precarious walkways were absent - the faintest glimmer of water was visible far, far down in the depths of the abyss.

The facility was illuminated by a pale violet that flickered and occasionally dimmed into darkness. A low, buzzing hum sounded throughout the empty structure. All the lasers were deactivated. All the screens were blank, all the switches were unresponsive.

Sans blinked.

And _all_ the doors appeared to be blasted open.

“Coulda sworn this room was a dead end, the last time my guard patrolled through here.” Undyne muttered, staring at the twisted and melted metal that framed a recently-created doorway. Beyond it was a long, dark hall - its end flickering with violet light.

“it’s a hidden entance.” Sans said, glancing at the door console embedded on the wall beside them. “usually just slides open. guess he ran out of patience getting places.”

“Works for us, I guess.” The captain said, peering in cautiously.

The skeleton chose that moment to let himself slide off of Undyne’s shoulders. He’d appreciated the lift, but a part of him felt like walking while he could.

… That came off a lot more grimmer than he’d intended.

The duo began to make their way into the darkness. This seemed to be a recurring thing as of late, the skeleton thought. He activated his eye again, to provide a new light source - as he’d gotten in the habit of doing.

A jolt of pain bloomed in his head, and he rubbed at his eye with a hiss.

Ugh. Bad _. Bad_ idea.

“What’s up?” Undyne asked, startled. The light from his eye socket lit up the darkness, alternating rapidly between yellow and blue. Sans squinted, grimacing.

“… Ah, crap. Don’t tell me you’re changing _now!_ ” The captain’s eye was wide - but Sans quickly waved his hand at her. Had to nip _that_ assumption in the bud.

“no. nah, _this_ …” He rubbed his head, continuing to walk down the hall as they reached a T-junction. “… this has got nothing to do with the sickness.”

Undyne frowned. “It’s… just your eye?”

“happens every time i approach the core, that’s all” Sans admitted. “i’ll ease into it pretty quickly - always do.”

There was a pause, as the captain strode in front of him, sighing.

“I’m guessing you’re not explaining _that_ one, either.” Undyne peered around the corner. “Which way?”

“you’re right. and left.”

The captain turned and raised an eyebrow at him, and he blinked back in confusion. Then, realization dawned.

“we’re _turning_ left.” Sans clarified, grinning. Huh. He hadn’t even noticed that one.

Instead of a groan or sigh, he was surprised to see Undyne actually look a little concerned. She turned left, glancing down the electronic-patterned hallways.

“Just stick behind me.” She muttered.

They wandered down the hall. There were several windowed rooms to their left and right - most of them cleared-out offices. Nobody really worked in the facility, anymore.

There was a kitchen, there was a rest room…

Sans blinked.

And there was an infirmary. He doubted it had been used at all as of recent. Everything was neatly arranged - all the instruments and medicines were locked away in cabinets.

… Heh. Even had the same blanket from the infirmary back at the old lab.

He couldn’t forget that pattern if he tried.

Sans rubbed at his eye, absentmindedly. Geeze. The pain was fading, but… his magic was still activated. He could see it reflect on the glass.

Flickering between blue… yellow…

Blue…

Yellow…

 

 

* * *

 

 

_“RED!”_

_“Temperature’s spiking! We’re in the red zone!”_

_“WHAT?! How!? This coolant was fine in the earlier tests!”_

**_“I don’t know! It must be the quantity! It’s growing unstable!”_ **

_Sans looked up from his clipboard, wide-eyed._

_They were in the underground Lab. He was in the observation chamber. Reno stood beside him, biting his nails. Val at the chamber controls - all three of them were staring into the main test chamber._

_The glass tube that contained the CORE fraction was flickering and flashing with light. The machinery that surrounded it crackled and sparked._

_Gaster, Owel and Sprig were right next to the contraption, having been recording energy readings. Their eyes were invisible behind their safety goggles, but Sans could see that they all looked horrified. They were all already stepping back - Gaster had summoned his extra hands to push his assistants behind him._

_A crack stretched out across the glass tube. The ball of light within pulsed erratically, churning and swirling with every possible colour imaginable._

**_“Everybody out of the testing chamber!”_ ** _Gaster said, looking over his shoulder._ **_“Val, contain it if you can!”_ **

_“I am doing so as we speak.” The monster replied, from the controls. They stared hard at the contraption, their usually-calm expression one of intense focus as they hurriedly worked through the buttons and levels with their magic._

_“Open the dang blast door!!!”_

_Snapping to attention, Reno dashed over to the door controls. The reinforced electronic door slid open slowly, with a hiss. Sprig hurled himself in before the door had even finished opening. Owel followed shortly after, landing hard on the ground, and both Sans and Reno helped her up due to her lack of arms._

_Sans turned and saw Gaster still in the test chamber, staring at the contraption with a frustrated expression. Backing away, he turned to run over to the observation chamber._

_A thunderous crack of energy burst from the CORE fragment. The force knocked the doctor off his feet, and he landed hard on the tiled floor._

_He pulled himself to his hands and knees, staring over his shoulder at the unstable contraption in horror._

**_“doc!”_ ** _Sans yelled._

_He reached out to Gaster, the loud “PING” of a BLUE attack echoing through the chamber._

_He felt the blue light in both his eye sockets well up. He saw Gaster turn to him, his eyes widening in terror._

**_“SANS, NO! STOP USING YOUR MAGIC!”_ **

_He didn’t listen. He yanked Gaster inside the observation chamber with one swift gesture._

_A thunderous crackle caught his attention, and before he deactivated his magic, Sans spun around to face the fusion chamber._

_It happened faster than any of them could process._

_Multicoloured strands of energy burst out of the glass cylinder, which exploded into glittering shards. Drawn to his magic, the energy surged towards the small skeleton._

_Straight._

_Into._

_His eyesocket._

_Sans felt as if his head was being ripped apart from the inside. He stumbled back with a scream, grasping and clawing at his eyesocket. The world around him seemed to warp - space seemed to rip open around him._

_He saw two floating hands grabbing him by the solders and yanking him off his feet, further back into the observation chamber. He heard the slam of a blast door - felt the tendrils of energy dissolve and release his eye - but his magic stayed activated. Overloaded._

_It hurt. It_ **_hurt._ **

**_“GET HIM OUT OF HERE!”_ **

_“Kid! Kid, shut your eyes!” Owel cried._

_His skull felt like it was going to explode into shards. The world continued to distort, a mess of voices, faces and colour around him._

_“I am shutting down the fusion emitters.” Val’s voice was even, but louder than usual. “We must stay calm, but we must act fast.”_

_“Is he safe to pick up?!” Reno’s panicked voice was right above him “… Oh, I-I don’t care, I’m picking him up!”_

_“What’s happening to his eye socket?!” Sprig exclaimed, from the other side of the room. “The energy’s all centring there!”_

**_“Val, contain it and shut it down completely!”_ ** _Gaster instructed, his voice firm but shaken._ **_“Owel and Sprig, help me stabilise him! Reno, put him in the infirmary and stand by for further instruction!”_ **

_Red appeared in Sans’ blurred vision. He felt himself being carried. His head rolled back, his entire body falling limp. He felt panicked, energised - but he didn’t feel connected to the rest of his body at all._

_Was he going to be okay?_

_Was he falling down?_

_… Was Papyrus going to be okay?_

_Who was going to look after him…? Who was going to look after his brother…?_

_He felt himself be placed upon a bed. He saw Owel arrange several instruments together with her magic. He saw Sprig arranging medicines, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead._

_He saw floating white hands rushing around doing separate tasks, and the concerned visage of Doctor Gaster as he held an instrument over where Sans’ SOUL was. It beeped incessantly, and the chaos in the room accelerated into a blur, as the skeleton’s vision began to give out._

**_“… This is all my fault…”_ ** _Sans heard Gaster whisper._

_He finally blacked out._

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Sans?”

The skeleton blinked.

“Somethin’ up with your eye?”

Sans was startled to realize that he’d been grasping at his eye socket unusually hard. He released it, raising his brow.

“i’m… fine.” He peered down the hall, blinking. “we’re getting close.”

“Don’t think you’ll need to point the room out.” Muttered Undyne, glancing about. "We gotta a trail of scorched doors to follow."

She walked onward, a spear summoned in her hand as she hummed a ditty that Sans wasn’t familiar with. He trailed after, lifting a hand to his eyesocket, tracing along its edge and wincing when he felt a groove that wasn’t there, before.

Looks like he’d scratched a bit too hard. The sooner he got rid of these claws, the better. He hoped that would be the first change. Once Gaster was gone, he wouldn’t have any hold on him, or the sickness. He wouldn’t have any hold on Papyrus, either.

His hand slowly lowered into his pocket, as he found his mood souring, again.

… Why had Gaster decided to involve his brother?

His eye sockets grew dark.

Had Gaster decided to just use Papyrus to spite him? Had he planned for this - or was weaponising his younger brother just a _spur-of-the-moment decision?_

His sternum grew tight. He grasped the jacket fabric in his middle

Maybe...

... maybe Gaster was just making _use_ out of him.

The doctor had the mutagen. And now he'd found  _another_ skeleton to test it on.

 Gaster had taken and used the people around him for his own means, and curiosity. He didn't seem to care for the consequences.

Sans took in a shaking breath.

He supposed that he shouldn't be surprised. It was the exact same thing the doctor had done all those years ago. 

The darkness around him illuminated into flickering blue, but Sans couldn’t find it in himself to care, anymore. He’d let this sickness make his eyes light up. He’d let it give him sharp teeth and claws.

But wasn’t going to let the doctor win.

He wasn’t going to let his brother stay a weapon.

Sans shut his eyes, drawing in a breath. When he reopened them, the blue flickering around him had stopped. He continued to walk forward, feeling the claws in his pockets poke holes through his sweater.

He wasn’t going to lose Papyrus to Gaster, too.

 

 

* * *

 

_< … I’M OKAY.>_

Quiet sobs and sniffles echoed throughout the cavern

_< FRISK… CAN YOU HEAR ME? IT’S OKAY…>_

Papyrus felt the human’s tears plop onto the front of his skull.

He crooned, glancing up at his friend, who hadn’t yet let go of his muzzle. He could still feel them shaking with sobs - and at that moment, he wished that he was small enough to hug their dear friend properly.

_< FRISK, IT’S GOING TO BE ALRIGHT! I’M OKAY. I KNOW WHAT SANS SAID… BUT I’M OKAY! PLEASE DON’T CRY…>_

Frisk didn’t seem to respond, instead quietly sobbing some more. He tried again to speak, even though all that spilled out of his jaws was little more than strange, garbled gobbledegook.

_< I PROMISE YOU - I FEEL A LOT BETTER! I MAY BE… STUCK LIKE THIS, IT’S TRUE - BUT I’M NOT HURT. I’M NOT SCARED!>_

He paused, reconsidering. _< I’M NOT _**_THAT_** _SCARED. >_

He only felt Frisk’s arms clutch his muzzle tighter, and Papyrus whined, quietly.

_< PLEASE DON’T WORRY…>_

He _really_ missed his voice.

Papyrus crooned again. The sound relaxed him a little, he’d noted - and even Frisk seemed to sob a little more quietly. The skeleton would have still preferred his articulate vocabulary, though - heck, even slightly more elaborate ways to say ‘yes’ and ‘no!’

At least, some way to reassure his friends.

They’d managed to find him, like he knew they would. They managed to snap him out of his ‘hazy’ state very quickly, like he knew they would. But they’d become so scared for him. They’d refused to let him help at all - they’d become so worried.

Papyrus sighed. And yet, he couldn’t blame them for it in the slightest.

Even Papyrus had become afraid of himself, after all.

That had been awful. He’d been fighting within his own mind for what seemed like a very long time. He hadn’t been his cool and confident self. He’d been very worried, feeling his mind go places that it certainly hadn’t, before…

Frisk’s sobbing began to grow silent. The steady stream of tears upon Papyrus’ skull seemed to lessen. The human’s grip loosened, and the skeleton waited patiently as they finally pulled away, turning to drag their feet over to the cavern wall.

Papyrus gave a quiet sigh. They needed some space, perhaps. Like Sans sometimes did…

He frowned.

Had Frisk… really been so concerned all this time?

Papyrus glanced down, eyes darting about a little in thought.

He certainly knew Sans had been.

Papyrus’ head lowered onto his claws. He thought back to the way he’d constantly fidgeted. The way he’d stuttered all the time, the way he curled in on himself the very moment Undyne had even suggested that his violent thoughts were his own.

He remembered the several sad glances Frisk would give him, holding his hand tightly. He remembered Undyne’s cheerful face fall as soon as she thought she’d turned away from him completely.

He remembered the sudden weight of the force of Sans’ BLUE attack, causing his four legs to give way.

He remembered the blackness of his sockets.

 _< I REALLY HAVE WORRIED EVERYONE, HAVEN’T IT?> _ Papyrus said aloud, no longer caring if he could be understood. Frisk had sat down, their back up against the cavern wall, hugging their knees to their chest. They didn’t respond, and he crooned again, sadly.

It hadn’t really been his fault, he knew. He’d been so ill - up until now, the conflict had been inside his own head. He hadn’t really been able to focus on the things around him.

But it still hurt. He hadn’t meant to worry his friends. He hadn’t meant to worry Sans, most importantly. After all, he was very sick, too…

It was no wonder why everyone had tried so hard to keep Papyrus at the bottom of a cavern. They were trying to protect him, after all. His friends cared for him deeply - they wanted him safe, and he appreciated that!

But for a little while, that had meant Papyrus was the only one who... believed in Papyrus.

That wasn’t really new. Papyrus had always been very good at cheering himself on when nobody else would! But still… it had felt very lonely. It was a horrible thing to be alone - Papyrus knew that better than most.

He lay there in silence for a while, his expression screwed up in thought.

Then, his head rose, and he looked over his new form.

He considered trying to change back, again. But that last attempt had really, really hurt. Even now, he could feel it. Some kind of pressure on his bones. It didn’t hurt now - and if he thought about it, he didn’t quite remember the rest of his change in the cavern causing him much pain.

But the shape his bones were in… it was like something had locked them there. It was… like he’d been made of water before, shifting and churning - and now he’d been frozen into ice. And if he tried to put pressure on ice, it would crack!

 _< THAT’S A SCARY “THAW’T.”> _He said aloud.

( _Ugh._ He was suddenly grateful for the language barrier. He must have been missing Sans too much.)

It was like there was something humming in the background, some kind of pressure all around him, and it wasn’t letting him change back. Something wanted him to stay like this.

Papyrus certainly didn’t.

It had been startling to even wake up like this - he did not have fond memories of the last time he’d transformed into a Blaster. He was quite certain he still had the scratch on his head from when he and Sans had fought. Papyrus felt too large, too unsteady, and his claws were not made for picking up a pencil and doing puzzles, and his mouth was not made for monologuing and his forelegs weren’t that great at hugging.

He blinked.

And yet… right now…

… he felt more like himself than he had in what seemed like days.

Papyrus wasn’t sure how to feel about that. He liked his old body a lot better, after all! This one didn’t even let him wear his battle body! He felt the welcome sensation of his beloved scarf around his neck again, but there was no remnant of his armour or boots. He didn’t look like the ideal cool dude he was supposed to be.

And… and he’d felt ‘hazy,’ before.

Papyrus gave a low whine.

He didn’t like that state at all. Not remembering your name, not remembering the names of his friends. Not even remembering where you were. It was like his thoughts had all vanished. He supposed it was as much a part of the sickness as changing into a massive bone monster.

Papyrus blinked, slowly.

Only this time, he’d… _known_ something.

Before he’d changed, he’d reminded himself that he was still very much Papyrus, no matter what. He’d talked to himself, reassured himself. He’d waited for the fear to take over, as it had before - even if he did do his best to calm himself, he didn’t feel his fear fade away.

But when Papyrus had woken up from his change…

He’d felt much _safer_.

He didn’t see his friends as frightening. He hadn’t recognised them at all, sure - but even when things had gone ‘hazy,’ he’d never once felt afraid.

And now - being back in sound mind, it felt like his thoughts was a lot clearer. The massive wave of fear that had been growing larger and larger as time had gone on had faded in intensity.

Papyrus felt a lot more like himself again - he felt like there were less things to worry about. He felt like he could push forward a lot further. He wasn’t frozen in place, anymore.

Papyrus found himself staring back down at his claws, and frowned.

What had _changed_ , exactly?

Some of the fears he’d had back before he'd changed seemed… _silly_ , now. They hadn’t felt silly - in fact, the danger had felt so very real.

And some of it _was_ real. Not all of his fears had gone away.

Undyne was tough and resourceful, but even she couldn’t keep fighting all on her own. And Frisk was determined, but even they had taken a massive blow.

He looked up as far as he could. The fog was still thick, and he couldn’t see the topmost ledge from where he’d fallen.

_< SANS…>_

Sans was strong, but he was also very ill. Maybe Papyrus didn’t know what was going through his head. Maybe he didn’t understand _exactly_ why his brother was so afraid. He did not know exactly what had happened with him and Gaster…

… but he was starting to have some idea.

No, not all of his fears had gone away.

But he certainly didn’t feel _helpless_.

Papyrus’ head rose, and he looked down at his forelegs.

Slowly, carefully, he pushed down on the rocky floor. He shakily lifted his large body off of the ground. He attempted to stand up all the way - only to remember that all fours was as far as he was going to get.

He raised his head high, snorting.

This was his body, now. It didn’t feel like his, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted it to be his - but this is what he had, right now. No matter what he looked like, it was still him!

Papyrus would simply keep going. He wouldn’t let this get him down.

He took a shaky step forward, then wobbled on his feet. Suddenly, the world spun beneath him and  he lowered his head down, eyes wide.

Wowie. That was… higher than he’d been expecting.  He was only a few heads taller than his normal form, but he already felt much too high up.

Cautiously, he took another step forward. Then another, experimentally raising his head a little higher as he moved onwards. It was still a little jarring, but the skeleton chose not to look down.

Papyrus blinked.

And quietly wondered if this was how Sans had felt, all those years ago.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Frisk stared into space in silence.

They watched the fog swirl before them. It perfectly mirrored their mind, they thought. It was difficult to really make anything out at the moment.

They’d run out of tears to shed. Now they simply sat with their back up against the cavern wall, cross legged and slouched. They were mentally exhausted from the day’s events (and perhaps from general lack of sleep) but after a few more moments of a blank mind, they soon fixed back on a single thought.

 _Gaster_.

Frisk found it in themselves to sit up straight.

After what had happened to Papyrus… were Sans and Undyne going to be okay?

Gaster was a strange monster, in many ways. The laws of reality didn’t seem to apply to him.

Frisk frowned. Sans had mentioned… something about him being ‘erased.’ Something about becoming more ‘complete.’

The human had noticed that recently, certain attacks seemed to be _affecting_ him now - when back before all of this started, Gaster had barely even flinched at Undyne’s spear attacks.

Frisk played with the end of their shirt, thoughtfully.

Did that mean that the more… ‘ _complete_ ’ he became, the more he would be affected by reality?

That made them feel a little better about the situation. The idea that Undyne and Sans could properly defend themselves, if they were all playing by the same rules.

But _still_ … Gaster still didn’t seem like a regular monster. He seemed capable of many strange things.

Frisk frowned, releasing their shirt.

But what bothered them _most_ of all, however, was that they couldn’t fully… _understand_ Gaster.

It was a strange thing to think about, especially now. Gaster had done many terrible things, after all. To Sans, Papyrus - and perhaps many others. But it was something Frisk had to think about during their entire journey in the Underground. _Understanding_ monsters. There was the potential for kindness in each of them, after all.

…

Frisk hadn’t… thought that through in their first time loop.

The human closed their eyes, taking in a deep breath.

They didn’t like thinking about this.

Memories of dust. Of _fear._

Fear had caused them to lash out - and allow something _else_ to take hold. Something aggressive and numb. Some _one._

Frisk had lapsed in and out of awareness. Their senses had been dulled to the world around them. Almost mercifully, they had not been able to entirely take in what had happened _around_ them.

But they knew enough. They'd seen enough.

They shook their head.

But in the end, they’d pulled away.

Gone back to the very beginning. 

Because Sans had persevered in defending the timeline. Because Frisk realised, that despite all this anger and fear and curiosity (that had never really felt like their _own)_ \- they had a _choice._

They'd been given another chance to do _right -_ a chance that they were absolutely determined not to squander.

Frisk took another deep breath.

The soul that had encapsulated theirs was driven by a strange force that they couldn’t completely comprehend.

The human opened their eyes. It hadn’t been anger, fear, or hatred. It hadn’t even been sadness.

It was simply a determination of the most _empty_ kind.

And… that’s what _Gaster_ reminded them of.

Someone that wasn’t interested in understanding. Just… progressing. Going as far as they possibly could, without thinking of consequence.

Without thinking of others.

Frisk leaned back, blinking blearily.

But most monsters all had the potential for kindness, right? Undyne, in her attempts to claim Frisk’s soul, was trying to do good for all monsterkind. She had a _reason_. All monsters had a reason, and all monsters could, in the end, be reasoned _with_. Asgore had really been the only exception - and the tired old king had even accepted their refusal to finish him off at the very end.

… which brought them to Flowey.

Flowey had been driven by the same kind of empty determination. He had no soul - no ability to love. No capacity for empathy. He was literally unable to understand Frisk’s actions of forgiveness. Restored to Asriel, not only did he understand, he’d given hope back to all of monsterkind. He had _freed_ everyone.

Frisk drew in a deep breath, adjusting their posture against the wall. They hugged their knees into their chest, closing their eyes.

They remembered their second and final foray through the timeline.

It had been so good to feel like their actions were their _own_ , again. That their hands weren’t being guided by another force, or that the world around them wasn't becoming increasingly distant and quieter. 

This time around, they’d wanted to clearly take in the world as much as they could. Investigating _every_ thing. Talking to every person. Staying in the moment. In Snowdin, particularly.

They’d spent hours in the ‘Librarby.’ Quietly reading from cover-to-cover - at least the books that had been completed.

A passage from one book had stood out to them, however. They could even remember it now.

 

_“Love, hope, compassion… This is what people say monster SOULs are made of. But the absolute nature of ‘SOUL’ is unknown. After all, humans have proven their SOULs don’t need these things to exist.”_

 

That had struck a small nerve with Frisk, initially. But the idea had stayed with them. The idea that no matter what, all monsters had the capacity for good. They just needed to be understood. 

But Frisk didn’t entirely understand Gaster.

They understood a _little._ The numb determination that had commanded them wasn't easy to forget - but the way they were now, they couldn't empathise at all.

If monster SOULs really were made up of ‘love, hope and compassion’ like that book had said, Frisk really hadn’t seen _any_ of those traits in the scientist.

So… what did that make Gaster? Someone _other_ than a monster?

… someone like Flowey?

Frisk was jolted out of their thoughts upon hearing the sound of something large suddenly crashing to the rocky ground.

Startled, they looked up to see Papyrus, still very much trapped in his strange new form.

He was lying on the ground with his forelegs tangled up. The frustrated ‘googly-eyed’ expression he wore would had made Frisk giggle a bit under any other circumstance.

The human watched as Papyrus slowly lifted himself back up on all fours, a little unsteadily. He shook himself out with a huff, glancing down at his claws.

He slowly began to walk forward again, cautiously at first - his head bowed down as if to focus hard on his forelegs. Then, he slowly eased into a comfortable stride, raising up his head as he did so, pacing around the cavern floor.

Frisk blinked.

They hadn’t really been paying much attention to Papyrus’ activities. They’d been lost in their own thoughts for a while.

Back when Frisk had finally let themselves burst into tears, Papyrus had stayed with them for a long time, keeping them in his makeshift hug. Frisk still remembered his worried eyes, staring up at them. He’d been quiet, only occasionally making soft crooning noises that vibrated through his skull.

Frisk already missed hearing their friend’s real voice.

The human quietly sighed. So much for trying to stay rational, themselves - they’d given their sick friend even _more_ things to worry about. The point of them staying behind was to keep Papyrus calm, after all.

…At least the skeleton had seemed calm enough to try comforting them.

Frisk hadn’t really been paying attention since they’d wandered away, simply content to retreat back into their own thoughts for a while. But now that they were back in reality, they focused on Papyrus. Letting their gaze follow him, they turned their head left. Then right.

Left… right…

Frisk frowned in confusion.

He was simply pacing back and forth, focusing hard on his own footfalls.

At first, he seemed to have an odd stride - lifting both left legs forward, then both right legs forward in an unsteady shuffle. However, after pausing a moment, Papyrus slowly let his footsteps begin to alternate. He stumbled a few times, his coordination becoming thrown off (he gave a low grumble or huff each time it happened).

Frisk blinked, slowly.

What _was_ he doing…?

Papyrus had sped up to a slow trot, keeping focused on his feet. However, with his focus solely on his forelegs, he suddenly found one of his back legs slipping out from under him. Turning to investigate it, he stopped focusing on his front legs and after a few clumsy steps, tripped over his forepaws again.

Frisk suddenly stood up, wide-eyed as the skeleton crashed to the ground with a yelp.

“Papyrus!?”

They hurried on over to their friend, who was groaning quietly. Before Frisk had reached him, however, he’d pushed himself back up on his feet, shaking himself out (rattling his bones a little). Noticing the human out of the corner of his eye, he turned to face them and lowered his head to their level with an amiable growl.

Papyrus seemed happy to see Frisk. Suddenly self-conscious, the human suddenly found themself hurriedly wiping their face - they hadn’t dealt with the tear stains on their cheeks just yet.

Looking up at Papyrus, Frisk noticed that there were a couple of small scratches on the bottom of his jaw, from colliding onto the ground. They didn’t seem like much at all, but the human found themselves cringing.

“M-Maybe you should sit back down, Papyrus.” They said. “You’re gonna hurt yourself…”

Papyrus veered back from them slightly, his expression a little saddened.

Then, his eyes narrowed. Giving a vocal growl, Papyrus raised his claw up, planting it sideways on his chest with his head held high. Then, hurriedly slamming it back down onto the ground so he wouldn’t lose balance, he carefully walked past Frisk.

“W-wait!” The human called after him. “Where’re you going?”

The skeletal beast fell back into a trot, his face carrying a stubborn expression.

Frisk raised their eyebrows.

He was pacing again. Back and forth. They didn’t understand it - and couldn’t help but worry a little. Frisk was supposed to be keeping him _calm_. This wasn’t calm at all… What if the sickness flared up, again?

… And what if Gaster found him like this?

The rhythmic “click click click” of his claws against stone echoed quietly through the cavern, occasionally punctuated by a loud scrape as he slipped. He would not stay settled, no matter how many times he lost his footing.

Frisk leaned back with a sigh. Whatever he was trying to do, he seemed fixed on it. But the human couldn’t really see the practicality of just…walking in circles.

…

Papyrus was walking.

Frisk did the most delayed double-take known to man and monster kind alike.

Papyrus was _walking._

They slowly turned and looked over at their friend, who had increased in pace even more. At the rate he was pacing, even the fog was starting to swirl away a little.

The skeleton slipped over a stray rock, but quickly scrambled to keep balance, and fell back in stride within seconds. He gave an approving bark as he did so, his stubborn expression giving way to excitement as he broke into a sudden gallop.

Frisk stared hard as he suddenly used his claws to slam on the brakes, sliding a few feet from where he’d chosen to stop.

Why hadn’t they seen it sooner?

Papyrus wasn’t pacing mindlessly. He was _learning how to walk._

A mere 20 minutes ago, he’d barely been able to stand. He’d pulled himself onto his legs and begun to learn how to use them. He’d been pushing himself, even when he failed. He hadn’t allowed himself to get discouraged in the slightest.

But that didn’t make sense… he was _sick,_ wasn’t he? The sickness was meant to be making him nervous and fearful, right? And he had plenty of reasons to be!

Papyrus was stuck as a Blaster. He was stuck as a weapon. If anything, that should have made him even more panicked. More discouraged. More prone to Gaster’s influence. It didn’t make any sense for Papyrus to simply shake all that off so quickly…

Frisk was snapped out of their thoughts when they noticed a sudden silence in the area. The maddening “click click click”-ing had ceased.

Papyrus had stopped pacing.

He was currently facing away from Frisk and staring upwards, giving a small trill. He craned his neck, a thoughtful expression appearing on his features.

Hesitantly, the human followed his gaze.

And blanched.

The fog had cleared considerably in the cavern, in no small part due to the incessant movement the large beast had provided. But with that came a fairly clear view of the top ledge of the cavern. The walkway that led to the cave’s entrance and exit.

It was around 150 feet high up from the ground.

And it was plain to see that Papyrus was staring directly at it.

Frisk looked back down at the skeletal beast, eyes growing wide.

No. No way. He _couldn’t_ be thinking that.

But he was already backing up considerably, looking behind him to make sure he wasn’t stepping on any more rocks.

He turned his head forward to look up at the ledge, once more, and let his body dip into a preparatory crouch, claws digging into the ground.

Frisk rushed forward with an outstretched hand. “Papyrus!”

He was already charging towards the wall of the cavern before the word had left Frisk’s mouth. He leapt up to the cave wall, claws digging into the rocks. He scrambled up the side, his claws scrabbling against the rock, and managed to pull himself a good ten feet off the ground.

It wasn’t long before before one of his forepaws slipped, and he fell backwards with a startled yelp.

He landed hard on his side, rolling himself back onto his feet and shaking himself out again. Undeterred, he stared firmly back up at the ledge, slowly walking around and keeping his gaze fixed on the cave wall.

Frisk took a step forward. “Papyrus, are you okay?!”

The skeletal beast turned to look at them, slowly wagging his tail in what seemed like reassurance. There weren’t any injuries, save a couple of scrapes on his ribs that Frisk didn’t remember seeing before. The human gave a sigh in relief - before they tried to make the most stern expression that they could.

“You could’ve really hurt yourself!” They said firmly, clenching their fists. Papyrus’ tail stopped wagging and he gave a garbled-sounding bark, his face screwed up in concern.

Frisk abandoned their stern look with a sigh, looking up at the topmost ledge. They could still see the small craters where Undyne had embedded her energy spears, all the way down the wall.

“… You’re really worried about them, aren’t you?” They asked, quietly. Papyrus glanced back down at them, with a quiet whine.

“...Gaster’s up there, too.” They added. “It’s too dangerous for you to be up there.”

Papyrus stared at them for a few moments with an expression Frisk could not place, before he stared back up at the furthermost ledge.

The idea that _Gaster_ could swoop in at any moment and take their friends away was what bothered Frisk the most. The human was sure that Papyrus understood the danger - he’d witnessed it firsthand, after all. He knew it better than _any_ of them, except Sans.

And yet, here he was.

Trying to climb up a cliffside, despite that. Staring at it and scrutinising it like an everyday puzzle.

A far cry from the skeleton Frisk had seen curling in on himself the day before.

They looked up at him, thoughtfully.

Frisk was aware that they could all be in even more danger if Papyrus made it to the top of the ledge. Gaster would have him at arm’s length. Sans could be in Gaster’s clutches. Undyne would possibly be unable to fight them both off if the scientist used them both as shields, like he’d done with Sans…

But was it right to keep Papyrus trapped here - and possibly cornered?

The human frowned.

More importantly…

_…was it right to hope that Papyrus would give up?_

There was a moment of silence, before Frisk began to back away. They turned and ran for the cavern wall.

Papyrus needed space to run, after all.

The skeleton stared after them, eyes wide in surprise. He then gave a grateful kind of growl, before trotting back to his previous starting point.

Frisk swallowed, watching from the side wall of the cavern.

They weren’t sure if they were doing the right thing. And yet, they clutched their shirt, staring on in a mix of concern and anticipation.

Papyrus backed up a few more steps from his previous position. Then again, he charged for the wall.

He’d leapt a little higher this time. His claws collided against the rocks again and he made another mad scramble to climb higher, higher! He pulled himself up a few more feet than his last attempt - and then his claw reached out to a loose rock.

Frisk cringed as he slid downwards and backwards on all fours, all the way back down to the ground.

Still on his feet, Papyrus backed up a little, staring up at the topmost ledge again with a rather vocal growl. He sat down on his haunches, looking at the cliff face thoughtfully.

Frisk stared at the slashes that Papyrus’ claws had left behind. He’d really had a good grip on the rock, but it hadn’t been enough to keep him on the wall.

They peered closer. The cliff face wasn’t a sheer drop - there were many ledges and boulders that were sticking out from it.

And now, Papyrus was looking at them closely, and the human noticed that he seemed to be counting them thoughtfully with his paw.

He stood up, and began to back up again.

The human clenched their fists before them, their exhaustion starting to dissolve off of them.

 _“Come on!”_ They yelled. Papyrus looked over at them, his expression startled.

Then, his face lit up.

He galloped against the rocky terrain once more. This time, Papyrus leapt up towards one of the smaller ledges.

He pulled himself up with ease, his lanky white forelegs reaching upwards and digging their claws into any solid rock they could find.

Papyrus looked like a giant, white lizard, clambering up the dark purple strata of the cliff. Occasionally, one of his back legs would slip out from beneath him, but he recovered quickly - holding onto the cliffside with his sharp claws.

…He was already 70 feet high.

Frisk was grasping the front of their shirt unusually tightly.

“Come on…” They whispered.

Papyrus suddenly stopped climbing. He was looking up at the ledges, observing them closely, his tail twitching. Some of them looked stable. Others didn’t.

Frisk held their breath.

Rocks clattered down from the cliff, and the human watched as Papyrus pulled himself up on a new ledge. His limbs, all centred in a narrow space, trembled as he struggled to keep balance.

He reached upwards with a claw.

The sound of loud cracking echoed through the caverns, and the skeleton’s eye sockets grew wide.

Frisk saw the ledge give way.

Papyrus let out a startled cry as he fell. He slammed his claws into the wall, but he was falling too fast to dig into it, properly. He fell backwards.

He slammed into the ground, shoulder-first.

A flash of orange flared up in his sockets, filling them completely, before he lay still.

The human rushed forward, heart pounding in their chest. _“PAPYRUS!”_

There was a brief silence. Then, bone shifted on stone, and Frisk froze in their tracks as they caught sight of his eyes.

A low whine sounded, and Papyrus lifted his head from the side shakily, blinking blearily and studying his surroundings in confusion.

His pupils were orange, again.

Papyrus looked dazed. He slowly rolled onto his front, shaking his head, slightly. His gaze rose to Frisk, who initially took a step back.

Orange. Like before… back when the group had first found him. The shock of the fall must have caused him to lose control, again.

Frisk’s shoulders slumped.

He’d been so _close_! He’d gotten so far! And now…

There was a low rumble, and the human’s gaze snapped up at the creature. He was staring at Frisk, his formerly vacant gaze rapidly gaining focus. Papyrus blinked a few times, shaking his head sharply a few times with what sounded like a frustrated groan.

…Oh.

The orange in his eyes was flickering.

The human approached him, slowly. Did he recognise them?

Papyrus looked like his was focusing a little harder. He seemed to be coming close to waking up, to snapping out of it.

But…

 

 

* * *

 

 

_“FR… ISK…”_

 

_A flicker or orange caught the child’s eye, and they looked up at Papyrus’ face - much less Papyrus-looking than usual. His expression seemed strained, like he was trying to focus hard on the human, but couldn’t quite see what was happening in front of him._

 

_His eyes fell onto Frisk, almost desperate._

 

_“I’M… COUNTING ON YOU… OKAY?”_

 

 

* * *

 

 

The orange pupils seemed to regain their stability, and the creature shook his head, trilling in confusion.

Frisk hurried to his muzzle, and began to pet the side of his head. He looked up at them, blinking slowly.

“You were getting there.” The human prompted, glancing back up the cliff face. “You were figuring it out. Do you remember?”

Papyrus’ eyes narrowed into a squint, the orange light paling slightly. He was thinking - already much more quickly than when the group had found him here, initially. Encouraged, Frisk hurried around his muzzle and over to his front, placing their hands on his nose

“You were trying to climb up the cliff.” They prompted, again. “Sans and Undyne are trying to find a way to finish all this. They’re going to the CORE. To try stopping Gaster. Remember what they said?”

Frisk glanced back up at the rocky cliff face, momentarily wondering how their friends were doing. They then heard a small huff, and turned back to the skeleton.

They were a little startled to see the white light in Papyrus’ eyes returning in moments.

With a sharp intake of air, the skeletal beast stepped back. His eyes were wide and staring down at Frisk, concerned and alarmed. He gave a garbled whine, and the human held their hands up in reassurance.

“It’s okay! I’m okay.” They said, a little startled. “Do you remember what happened, just now? Are you alright?”

Papyrus groaned, before nodding and Frisk reached up to him. He brought his muzzle down to face level and the human could see that he looked a little troubled. Perhaps he’d been hoping to stay in control.

Their gaze fell onto his red scarf.

“…Something really _is_ different, isn’t it?” Frisk said - mostly to themself. But also to Papyrus, who looked a little startled. He barked, nodding his head eagerly.

The human stared up at him.

“I’m really sorry.”

The skeleton blinked, as their gaze dropped to the ground.

“I-I think… I might have panicked, too.” Frisk smiled, wiping their eye a bit. “I was really worried about you, Papyrus. I though that the sickness… was maybe…”

They closed their eyes.

“…I thought that eventually… you wouldn’t be you, anymore. That I’d lose my friend.” They looked back up at him, giving a sad smile. “Silly, right?”

Papyrus stared at them for a moment, blankly. Then, he shook his head.

Frisk blinked. “It’s not that silly?”

He rumbled quietly, looking a little sad. And the human understood.

“… you were afraid of that, too?”

Papyrus nodded, a little somber. Then, he shook himself out, suddenly raising up to his full height with a loud bark. Frisk felt a small laugh escape them.

“Yeah… You’re still here!” Papyrus lowered his head back down to their level, his tail falling into a slow wag. The human placed both hands on the sides of his skull.

“And even if you lose control, I’ll make sure you come back. Every time!” Frisk said, firmly. “You said you were counting on me, right?”

Papyrus’ eyes grew wide in recollection. Then, they became squinted in happiness. With a chirp, he nuzzled the human’s shoulder, and Frisk petted his muzzle with both hands with a small laugh.

…They both had to keep trying, didn’t they? No matter how hard the obstacles became, they had to stay determined.

When had they both forgotten that?

Frisk pulled away from Papyrus, and they both looked up the cliff face. Then, they glanced back at each other.

They nodded.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The magma of Hotland surrounded him. The large structure of the CORE wavered in the distance, and he took it in as long as he possibly could.

It was quite pretty. It had been nice to see it while he could… regardless of what had happened within.

Reno drew in a breath.

But he knew his time was up.

A long time ago, he would have been quaking in his boots. The idea of being sent back into nothingness, unable to interact at all with those on the other side. To not be remembered. It was a lonely existence (or lack thereof).

Reno looked down at the head that he had no choice but to hold. He felt a presence, growing heavier and heavier around him.

The head rotated in his hands to face him directly.

Reno smiled ruefully, standing up straight.

A shadow loomed from behind him, but he didn’t turn to face Gaster’s arrival. He didn’t really feel like speaking to his old colleague - he’d been very unpleasant as of late.

He stood there in silence for a few moments. Then, Reno chuckled, a sound that bubbled out of the head he held.

The looming shadow passed him by, turning to face the grey monster. The doctor was astride one of his new weapons. A pet project of sorts - that had swept him away from what he’d originally set out to do…

Reno looked back up at the doctor.

Or had he been swept away long _before_ that?

 ** _I fail to see what is so funny, Reno._** Gaster said, tilting his head. The grey monster shook his head, his smile dropping.

**_“…You haven’t taken your piece, yet.”_ **

He looked down at the head, that had now turned away to face the doctor. Reno stared at it thoughtfully, before looking back up at him, scrutinising his features.

 ** _“…You’re not prepared.”_** Reno leaned forward, inquisitively. **_“My old friend - are you that scared?”_**

The purple light within Gaster’s eyes shrank to pinpricks.

 ** _“I felt them all leave, back where they’d come.”_** Reno lifted the head towards Gaster, a smile returning to his features. **_“You’re hesitating now? What’s wrong, old chum?”_**

 ** _I’m getting very tired of hearing you speak back to me, Reno._** He said, his voice soft and dangerous. **_For someone so concerned about safety, you seem eager to place yourself in danger._**

Reno smiled, sadly. **_“I realised something, when I fell in that star.”_** He tilted his head. **_“You're falling apart. You're starting to scar.”_**

He hugged the piece close to his chest, head bowing down - in a kind of serenity that he hoped Gaster would find infuriating.

**_“I am not the one who’ll break.”_ **

He glanced up at the floating, outstretched hand of his old employer, surging towards him.

**_“For you have made a_ ** **_huge_ ** **_mistake.”_ **


	14. A Window

_“SANS…?”_

_The skeleton felt himself ebbing in and out of consciousness. His head was throbbing terribly, and his body still felt completely limp. Some strange, polka-dot pattern blurred into focus. He’d seen it before - several times as he’d at least tried to wake up - the blanket that he’d been lying under for…_

_… how long had it been?_

_Something grabbed and gently shook his arm. However, seconds later, the motion was stopped as something else pulled the grasp off of him._

_“Kid, let him rest, alright? I told you to go_ **_home_ ** _.”_

_Owel… He could hear Owel. She sounded tired._

_“BUT I’M SUPPOSED TO WAKE HIM UP!” Came another voice. “HE’S ALWAYS TOLD ME TO WAKE HIM UP IF HE SLEEPS TOO LONG!”_

_… wha…?_

_Sans’ eyesockets slowly and painfully opened. The room was dim, lit by a single lamp, and he was thankful for it - he wasn’t sure if he could handle bright lights right now._

_Somebody small was hovering right next to him. He stared at them, blearily - he couldn’t really see anything that clearly aside from blurred shapes and colours._

_But he knew the voice._

_“…bro?” He asked. His voice was raspy._

_Papyrus’ face swam into focus. His little brother, aged 9 (and a_ _half_ _, he would insist, pointedly). He still had a gap in his teeth from the time he’d tried swinging off of the awning of their house last week. He was decked out in his Snowdin gear, complete with red mittens clutching the side of the bed._

_His expression switched from intense concern to excitement upon hearing his brother’s voice._

_“SANS!” He wailed._

_The older skeleton’s eye sockets widened a bit._

_Aw, geeze… Papyrus was on the verge of tears._

_Sans slowly tried to push himself up to comfort him, but his limbs barely responded. And the moment he did manage to lift his skull and push himself halfway up into a sitting position, the room seemed to swirl before him._

_He felt small arms embrace him tightly. Despite how limp the rest of his body felt and how disoriented he felt, Sans slowly managed to raise an arm around Papyrus, returning the hug as best he could._

_“Sans! Hey, hey, easy.” An alarmed Owel had hurriedly approached from the other side, nudging Papyrus away with a gentle butt of her head. “Give him some space, kid. And Sans, stay still. W-we’re… we’re still making sure everything’s okay.”_

_Papyrus released him, and Sans groaned, sliding back down into a lying position, his head still throbbing. “owel…?”_

_“Heh…” The scientist withdrew from him. “Alright… Alright, you remember us. Good sign.” She nodded, her eyes wide in a mix of relief and fear. “You’re moving, too. It’s going to, uh… take a while to get you back to full mobility, but… you’re moving.”_

_Sans blinked. The lizard monster looked like she hadn’t slept in days. She was displaying dark circles beneath her eyes._

_“what happened?” He croaked. Papyrus had crawled up onto the side of the mattress and was now sitting there cross-legged, staring hard at him._

_“ARE YOU OKAY, SANS? YOU LOOK AWFUL.” He said, frowning._

_Sans experimentally moved his fingers around beneath the blanket. His body still felt loose and a little unresponsive, but feeling was steadily being restored through his limbs._

_“i think so…” He said, though he wasn’t sure if it was the truth. He’d never seen Owel look so frazzled. His assigned mentor was usually pretty grouchy and stonefaced when it came to him. Right now, she looked like a wreck._

_“…Sans is going be fine.” Owel said, and she looked as if she couldn’t quite believe it. “I just, uh… I have to call the crew downstairs. I can’t leave you… either of you unsupervised. Give me a moment. I’m going to call the rest, just… give them an update.” A radio from her inventory appeared in midair, and she grasped it in her tail. She walked off to the side of the room, speaking as composedly as she could into the receiver._

_Sans blinked rapidly, waking up a little more._

_…He was in the upstairs infirmary._

_He was still in the Lab, but in the surface building that led out to Hotland. An elevator ride away from the testing chambers, and an escalator ride up one more level._

_He could see his lab coat and blue sweater folded neatly on a chair nearby. The lab coat was scorched and burned around the collar._

_Sans stared at it, perplexed._

_…Oh. The explosion._

_He remembered the colours of the CORE fragment blinding his vision…_

_“YOU WERE BEING PRETTY SCARY.” Papyrus’ voice brought him out of his thoughts. Sans turned to his brother, attentive._

_“i was?” Man. His voice was still raspy._

_“YOU WEREN’T MOVING AT ALL.” Papyrus said, concerned. “NOT EVEN WHEN I POKED YOU.”_

_Sans blinked._

_“MR SPRIG SAID YOU’D BE OKAY, AND TRIED TO GET ME TO GO HOME, BUT I STAYED.” He added, decisively thumping his hands on the bed. “HE WENT AND GOT THE MEAN LADY, AND SHE CHASED ME AROUND, BUT I STILL STAYED!” He thumped his hands harder on the mattress. “I’M NOT GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL YOU’RE ALL BETTER!”_

_A smile cracked across his features, despite how awful he felt. It was hard to talk Papyrus down from doing just about anything._

_“… sorry, bro.” He grinned. “i didn’t mean to worry you.”_

_Then, he paused, slowly beginning to piece things together._

_“wait… how long have i been out?”_

_“TWO DAYS!” Papyrus said, wide-eyed. “MRS LAGO GOT A PHONE CALL ABOUT YOU BEING IN AN ACCIDENT.”_

_He blinked slowly. Right… Mrs Lago. The Snowed Inn innkeeper._

_She’d offered to look after Papyrus while Sans was out working in Hotland. The older skeleton had been a little hesitant to do so at first - but his worries were quickly put at ease. She knew how to redirect Papyrus’ boundless energy into doing chores and supplied him with plenty of puzzles._

_“… so she brought you here?” He asked, blearily._

_Papyrus abruptly shook his head._

_“NOPE! SHE TOLD ME TO STAY AT THE INN FOR A WHILE, SO SHE COULD CHECK ON YOU.” He rocked back and forth on his seat. “SO I DID.”_

_He suddenly beamed. “AND AFTER I WAITED A WHILE, I CRAWLED OUT THE WINDOW AND RAN ALL THE WAY OVER HERE!”_

_It took a while for that statement to register with Sans. Suddenly, he felt a lot more awake._

_“bro… you ran all the way to hotland? on your_ **_own?”_ **

_“YEAH!” He paused. “I GOT LOST. MISTER GERSON FOUND ME SNACKING ON THE GLOWING MUSHROOMS. FOR KEEPING UP MY ENERGY!” He added, raising his finger. “AND DEFINITELY NOT BECAUSE I WANTED TO KNOW WHAT THEY TASTED LIKE!”_

_The corner of San’s mouth twitched. “and uh, what happened after that?”_

_Papyrus brightened. “WELL, AFTER I WOKE UP, HE TOOK ME TO THE RIVER PERSON. I ASKED THEM TO TAKE ME TO HOTLAND, AND THEN I RAN THE REST OF THE WAY!”_

_Sans was two parts impressed, one part horrified. Papyrus generally didn’t need to be that closely supervised, anymore - he was starting to become increasingly independent, and Mrs Lago usually sent him on errands around the small town, nowadays._

_But sometimes, Papyrus had a bit too much determination and too little common sense. One day, he’d leapt off of a tree branch in the woods, simply because he’d seen Freezedrake do it and flutter gracefully to the ground._

_Papyrus flew about as well as a stone, and he’d had the fracture to prove it (“I’LL FIGURE IT OUT!” He’d said, cheerfully as Sans wrapped the splint into his tibia)._

_…He really needed to keep a closer eye on the guy._

_“how about you ask someone to take you next time, okay pap?” Sans said, raising an eyebrow. Slowly and carefully, he pushed himself back up into a sitting position, so he was leaning against the headboard of the bed. The room spun a little, but after a few moments, things came back into focus._

_“BUT THIS WAS AN EMERGENCY!” Papyrus said firmly, clenching his mitts before him. “YOU ALWAYS SAY THAT YOU’LL COME BACK HOME WHEN THERE’S AN EMERGENCY THERE.” He perked up. “SO I’M GONNA COME OVER HERE WHEN THERE’S AN EMERGENCY, TOO!”_

_Sans was about to clarify that Papyrus didn’t need to worry about making the trip, before the more vivid memories of the accident suddenly came to the forefront of his mind._

_He remembered the yelling. The glass shards on the chamber floor - Dr Gaster being thrown off of his feet. He remembered reaching out with his newly-learned BLUE magic…_

_He remembered the haywire CORE energy surging to his eye, as if magnetised to it. He remembered feeling as if his skull were about to explode…_

_Sans winced as pain spiked in his eye socket, and he clutched at it with a hiss._

_Papyrus blinked. “SANS…?”_

_The pain seemed to radiate outward to the rest of his skull. Carefully, he removed his hand, noticing that the dimly-lit room was being vaguely illuminated in yellows and blues. Spots of black seemed to appear around him, briefly - accompanied by a soft, buzzing hum._

_He blinked._

_It all faded slowly, as did the pain. He felt light-headed, and leaned back against the headboard in a daze._

_“YOUR EYE’S ALL WEIRD.” Papyrus said, uncertainly._

_Sans tenderly felt at his eye socket. It didn’t feel any different, but…_

_“what’s weird about it?” He asked, cringing._

_Papyrus shrugged. “IT’S ALL FLASHY. NOT SO MUCH ANYMORE.” He peered closer. “CAN YOU DO IT AGAIN?”_

_“ - acting up again. Settling down, now.” Sans was brought back to attention by Owel, who was staring at him, tense. She was still talking into the radio. “I’ll get him to lie down, just… come on up and check on him, alright?”_

_Owel paused, listening to the speaker for a moment, before frowning. “No, I haven’t managed to get the other kid to leave, yet.” Another pause. “No, Sprig. You_ **_don’t_ ** _get to tell me that you told me so. Just get up here.”_

_She released the radio call button, and the skeleton slid back down onto his pillow with a groan. He felt dizzy most of all - thankfully, the feeling had returned to his bones._

_“… what’s wrong with me?” He asked, frowning._

_Owel let out a sigh. She released the radio from her tail, and it vanished back into her inventory._

_“… I’ll just go with the good news for now.” She muttered, glancing over at Papyrus, who was staring hard at Sans’ now-perfectly normal eye socket._

_“The good news is, it looks like you’re going to be fine, kid.” She closed her eyes. “The whole crew is about to collapse, but - you’re_ **_alright_ ** _.”_

_Sans remembered how limp he’d felt, being carried around by Reno. He remembered how everything had blurred into each other._

_He stared back at her, trying to make as neutral an expression as possible._

_“That’s what matters, alright?” She said. “…we’ll give you the bigger picture later.”_

_The dark circles under her eyes. The way he’d barely been able to move upon first waking up._

_Sans’ gaze flicked to Papyrus, then back at Owel._

_He understood._

_“guess that’s uh…_ **_very_ ** _good news.” He said, a little dazed._

_Wow._

_Nope._

_There was no way Sans was about to discuss the very real possibility that he’d been close to death. Especially not with his brother in the room._

_Owel seemed to visibly relax at him catching on._

_“… We can talk about your eye.” She added, straightening her posture. “The accident caused one of your eye sockets to… burn out, effectively.” She leaned forward, studying it. “You should be able to use your magic just fine when you recover… But we need to monitor this for a while. Don’t use any magic until we’re sure everything’s stable. Am I clear?”_

_Sans nodded absentmindedly, still stunned by the thinly-veiled revelation. “yeah…”_

_Owel stared hard at him. “Am I_ **_clear_ ** _?” She repeated._

_Sans snapped to attention. “yes, ma’am.” He said, startled. It looked like she was returning to her normal, stern self._

_“SANS, WHAT WAS THE ACCIDENT LIKE?” Papyrus asked, suddenly. “DID YOU TRIP?”_

_The older skeleton looked over at his brother. Game face._

_“nah, bro.” He smiled, reassuredly. “i, uh… i guess i didn’t memorise safety as well as i thought.” He gave Owel a quick glance. “this is why we read the manual for everything, okay bro?”_

_“I ALWAYS DO!” Papyrus said, brightly. Then, he frowned. “WHAT’S A MANUAL?”_

_Owel glanced over at the small skeleton, her eyes growing half-lidded in impatience._

_“There’s one more matter, Sans.” She said. “We’ve been trying to get your brother out of the lab building for… a good few hours, now. And he’s refused every time.”_

_Sans couldn’t help but snort in laughter. Yeah, that sounded about right._

_“YOU CAN’T MAKE ME LEAVE, MISS!” Papyrus said, standing up straight. “I’M VERY FAST! AND YOU DON’T HAVE ARMS.”_

_Sans’s eyes darted to his mentor, mildly horrified. Owel looked like she was at the end of her rope._

_“I’m gonna tell you by my authority of a Royal Scientist, kiddo. You have to leave the building and go home - or else I go through the trouble of calling the Royal Guard about throwing a_ **_kid_ ** _into the dungeon.”_

_Papyrus stared up at her, looking briefly shocked. Then, he jumped off the bed, standing firm._

_“BUT I’M SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKING AFTER SANS.” He said. “BY MY AUTHORITY AS A BROTHER, I GOTTA STAY HERE!”_

_“don’t think it works like that, bro.” Sans said, trying his best not to snicker. It failed, and Owel silenced him with a glare._

_“We can’t have him stay here for the night.” She said flatly to Sans. “I can pick up objects with my magic, not people. I am running on thirty minutes sleep over two days. And the little guy keeps outpacing me and finding ways to hide.”_

_“I AM WORKING ON MY STEALTH!” Papyrus said, loudly._

_Owel began to grit her teeth. Sans changed tracks. He liked the idea of his little brother being close by, but…_

_“alright, bro. you gotta go back home.” He said, firmly. “you’re not really supposed to be here in the first place.” He added. “it’s kinda dangerous.”_

_The younger skeleton frowned._

_“BUT I WANNA STAY, SANS.” Papyrus said, gripping the side of the bed and sinking down so only his eyes were visible. “I HAVE TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE ALL BETTER!”_

_Sans reached out to his brother, giving him a gentle noogie. “i’m gonna be okay, pap.” He said, smiling. “the smart people said so, okay?”_

_He blinked. “tell you what. you probably_ **_have_ ** _to go back to snowdin, anyway.”_

_Papyrus stood up again. “WHY?”_

_Sans shifted so he was sitting up straight, and he crossed his arms._

_“because i’m sending you on a mission, bro.”_

_He smiled, as Papyrus’ eyes lit up. His brother had become increasingly fascinated with the Snowdin Guard - his recent playtimes had always included fantasies of being a part of the troop. Heck, even becoming the captain, himself! (Sans sorta hoped it was a phase - Papyrus couldn’t really be that dangerous if he tried, after all)_

_“WHAT DO YOU NEED, SANS?” He asked, standing to attention._

_“well.” He thought a moment, frowning. “… actually, a take-out burger from grillby would be nice…”_

_Papyrus stared at him, making a face. “IT STINKS IN THERE.” He brightened. “BUT IF IT HELPS MAKE YOU BETTER, THEN OKAY!”_

_“wait up, bro.” Sans raised his hands, shaking his head. “i was uh, mostly kidding about the burger. the mission is… and this is_ **_very_ ** _important…”_

_He looked at his younger brother sternly. “…you gotta go back to the snowdin inn and apologise to mrs lago. i think she might be worried sick.”_

_Papyrus’ shoulders slumped. “OH.” He looked down at his boots. “OKAY. I DIDN’T MEAN FOR HER TO GET WORRIED.”_

_“i know you didn’t bro.” He smiled. “next, you gotta sleep there for the night. the_ **_whole_ ** _night.” He said, pointedly._

_Papyrus frowned. “THIS MISSION SOUNDS REALLY HARD.”_

_“hey, no mission’s supposed to be easy.” Sans said with a shrug. “but you gotta sleep. keep up your energy.” He thought a moment. “after that, you can come back to the lab to see me in the morning, okay? but not alone. you gotta have mrs lago with you, got it?”_

_He glanced over at Owel for approval. She gave a curt nod, perplexed._

_Papyrus straightened. “OKAY. I GOT IT!” He saluted. “I WON’T FAIL THE MISSION.”_

_“awesome, bro. i’m counting on you, okay?” Sans grinned. Then, it faltered a bit as he looked up at the other scientist._

_“can you, uh… make sure he goes to the riverperson, first?”_

_Owel sighed. “…We’ll wait for Sprig to get here. Then we can worry about getting Papyrus home.”_

_Sans smiled. “thank you, ma’am.”_

_“THANK YOU, MA’AM!” Papyrus echoed, saluting her. Then he faltered, holding his hands behind his back. “I’M SORRY FOR CALLING YOU A MEAN LADY.”_

_Owel stared down at him, stonefaced. “I’m a very mean lady.” She said, flatly. “The meanest.”_

_“NO YOU’RE NOT.” Papyrus giggled._

_Sans noted a small, almost reluctant smile appearing upon her features._

_Then, she gave a threatening stomp in his direction, and Papyrus darted off down the escalator with a shriek._

_“YOU CAN’T CATCH ME!”_

_Owel stood still, watching as the young skeleton remained running on the spot, the escalator rolling in the opposite direction._

_“…use the other one, bro.” Sans called after him._

_“I CAN MAKE IT!” He called back, very slowly making progress downwards._

_“...I guess being eccentric runs in the family, huh?" Owel said quietly, staring at the younger skeleton’s efforts._

_Sans grinned. “kinda sorta. he’s hard to keep up with sometimes, but he’s cool. he’s the best bro.”_

_The side of Owel’s mouth twitched, and Sans realized she was trying not to smile again. Before he could say anything about it, she gave a nod._

_“You have a tough act to follow, Sans.” She said, goodnaturedly. Then, she turned back to Sans, suddenly stonefaced._

_“Gaster should come by here in a few hours.” She said. “He’s been out reporting everything to the King. Detailing the accident as best he can.” She sighed. “Plus, talking about funding. We’re probably gonna be cut back a ways.”_

_Sans recalled the worried doctor’s face being the last thing he saw, before he slipped into unconsciousness._

_“is he okay?”_

_Owel nodded. “He’s fine. A few scrapes, but - nothing serious.” She shrugged, glancing to the side. “…He’s definitely had worse.”_

_She looked over at Papyrus, who was surprisingly getting quite close to the bottom of the escalator. “He’ll fill you in completely on yesterday’s events. The bottom line is that you’ll recover.”_

_Sans looked over at her. Despite how frazzled she’d seemed earlier, she seemed to be relaxing - and teetering on the edge of unconsciousness._

_Thirty minutes sleep, huh?_

_His eye still felt notably uncomfortable - but for a moment, it was sinking in that he probably owed this small group of monsters his life._

_“… thank you, ma’am.” Sans said, carefully._

_He shifted on the spot. “i’m, uh… i’m sorry.” He paused. “you know, for everything.”_

_Owel paused. Then closed her eyes._

_“Apologise to Reno, when you get the chance. Pretty sure he was hiding in a corner for most of the incident. Went home as soon as we confirmed you were okay.”_

_Sans blinked._

_If he was honest, he hadn’t really been expecting becoming friends with his superiors. Heck, even in school, he wasn’t the type to really reach out - he was mainly looking out for Papyrus most of the time. Sans was a kid, and the Royal Scientist crew treated him like one, in many ways._

_The fact that they’d been so concerned for him was a little touching._

_“…i think i owe all you guys hot dogs.” He said, quietly._

_Owel stared at him for a moment. Then, she smiled, shaking her head._

_“Get some rest, kid.”_

 

 

* * *

 

 

“This place is ten times bigger than it needs to be.” Undyne growled.

Sans glanced over at her, briefly startled out of his thoughts.

They were heading deeper and deeper into the CORE facility. They’d been following the trail of blasted-open doors, but the darkened hallways were starting to branch out more and more. They were navigating by the distant, violet light source - and in Sans’ case, memory.

The Royal Captain was jogging in front of him. Her spear illuminated the dark, metallic hall they rushed down, causing the grooves and computer chip-esque indentations to glint in the turquoise light.

“… No sign of Alphys, yet.” She muttered. “I’d call for her if we weren’t trying to sneak around like wimps.” She narrowed her eye. “Starting to hate everything _about_ this mission.”

“no mission’s supposed to be easy.” Sans said absentmindedly, jogging after with his hands in his pockets.

They were rapidly approaching the end of the corridor. Undyne pulled up moments before they reached it. Then, her hand lashed out to the side, yanking back Sans by the back of his hood as he’d rushed past her.

“Scout it out _first_ , knucklehead.” She hissed, pulling him behind her. She peered around the corner. “Thought I told you to stay behind me.”

Sans blinked, rapidly. Things were getting bad. “sorry. zoned out.”

Undyne scanned the corridor, before stepping out from the corner. “This place is a freaking maze.” She muttered to herself, before turning back to Sans, twirling her spear in her hand.

“Fine. Stay in _front_ of me. If you zone out again, I’ll give you gentle, encouraging and pointy nudge, you hear?” Undyne’s spear crackled in her grasp.

Sans jogged ahead with a small salute. “yes, ma’am.”

Ignoring Undyne’s confused look, he stopped up at the next turnoff and peered down the hall.

His eye sockets widened.

Yeah… he recognised _this_ hallway. It was run-down, grimier than usual - nobody really used it anymore, after all. But he’d walked down it more times than he could count.

The control room door was blasted open. The doorframe was twisted and warped with charred metal.

However, the main point of concern were the rays of bright, violet light shining out from it.

“That’s not normal.” Undyne had stepped out beside him, staring hard at the door. Then, she glanced over at the skeleton. “ _Is_ that normal?”

“that’s not normal.” Sans confirmed, stepping forward with his eye lit up.

The two rushed over to the doorway. What remained of the electronic door itself were two metallic panels, twisted and melted - lying upon the tiled floor of the control room.

They stepped forward cautiously, peering further into the chamber - past the control panel, past the reinforced glass.

Sans’ eyesockets grew wide.

It was plain to see that the facility’s CORE was incredibly unstable.

It was churning on the spot, violet flames billowing and crackling around it. The energy upon its surface was crackling and buzzing - warping into various shades of violet and purple and white and black -

“This is bad.” Undyne muttered, her eye scanning the fusion emitters. They were starting to spark under the strain of the energy. “Don’t need a PhD to know that.”

Sans stared hard at the CORE, wide-eyed. So _this_ was the anchor Reno had been talking about. Gaster was still connected to it - he could _feel_ his energy signature radiating off of it. They still had time.

It was slowly regaining stability, but…

…something wasn’t right.

The low, electric buzzing that he’d been hearing since this whole mess had started was steadily growing louder and louder. An electric hum that came from everywhere and nowhere all at once - clearly the influence of Gaster.

But…

Sans shook his head.

Louder… too _loud_ …

The hum was becoming a roar. A loud roar of static.

Sans’s claws rose and grasped at his head, teeth gritted.

Tones of screeching. Of white noise.

He couldn’t ignore it. He couldn’t think clearly - no matter where he tried to avert his thoughts, the roar grew into an all-encompassing cacophony -

_“Sans!”_

He felt Undyne grasp his shoulder and he looked up at her. He knew his eyes were flickering badly, illuminating her face.

She knelt to face level, her gaze firm.

“Snap out of it. You stay focused, you hear me?” She jabbed a finger at him. “ _Pap’s_ counting on you. _Frisk’s_ counting on you.” She glanced around, eyes narrowed and on guard. “Hold on for just a little longer, knucklehead.”

_Focus…_

_He didn’t have to listen to him._

_Stop listening._

The grip on his skull increased, his claws digging in.

_Stop. Listening._

His claws began to loosen.

Sans shook his head. The light dimmed from his eyesockets, but as his claws lowered from his head, he still noticed a faint and persistent glow of blue illuminating them. His eyes were still lit up. He wasn’t calming down.

Sans drew in a breath.

He didn’t have a lot of time left.

The CORE facility lights suddenly seemed to activate briefly. Then, as suddenly as they’d come, they dimmed - before flickering on again.

Sans and Undyne looked around, startled. Then, the skeleton spun to face the main chamber.

“… the core.” He said, softly. The ball of churning energy seemed to steadily be stabilising.

Except… it had doubled in size. Small flickers of magical electricity spluttered up to the roof of the chamber, into the receiving mechanism.

“…it’s _barely_ powering this place.” He said, drawing in a breath. “how about that?”

As he spoke, the control panel console lights flickered on. He rushed forward to them, staring at the readings.

He wasn’t sure how accurate they were. Low power, after all. But this is what he had to work with.

They could definitely do some damage with this. His clawed fingers danced across the controls in a hurry.

“i’m gonna try re-activating this place.” He said, firmly. “if we’re lucky, the core goes back to normal. and gaster becomes the least of our problems.”

If they were unlucky, they got to see what a CORE implosion looked like. He decided not to repeat what they both already knew.

The telltale sound of Undyne focusing her magic reached him. Peering over his shoulder, he spotted her waving a hand and glowing, turquoise circles appearing upon the floor. With an upwards gesture, several glowing spears shot up from them - effectively barricading the blasted-open door.

“Hurry it up, punk!” She snarled. “I’ll keep an eye out.”

Sans spun back to the controls, racking his memory for the startup sequence.

Yeesh. Val made this look _easy_.

The skeleton continued to type away, his claws leaving small scratches and dents as he worked. He began to grit his teeth in both pain and frustration, the roaring in his head growing louder and louder…

… It was hard to work when it felt like something was screeching non-stop in your ears.

He drew in a deep breath, noticing his eyes were flickering again.

Stay focused. He just had to keep focused on this _one_ thing. He could pull through.

… but it was too loud...

 

_… too loud…_

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_…Everything was screeching._

Gaster saw the air rip open around him. He saw the distant and imposing structure of the CORE wavering in both the heat of Hotland, and the distortion that the massive holes of space-time provided.

The glitching Reno had disappeared moments ago, his infuriating smile still upon his features as he’d dissolved away into grey glitches and particles.

That should have been the end of it.

Gaster had what he wanted. He had his final piece. He’d plunged it back into his SOUL, where it belonged.

…This wasn’t right.

It _couldn’t_ be right.

 

_(You should have listened. You knew something was wrong. You didn’t listen.)_

 

He felt himself being pulled forcibly in every direction, and his face twisted into a snarl, the violet lights in his eyes shrinking into pinpricks.

This wasn’t right. He didn’t need the anchor anymore. He didn't need the CORE. He was supposed to be _complete._

He was supposed to be _free!_

But Gaster still felt it. He felt the pull of the void from the anchor - the strain on his body that seemed to be growing stronger and stronger. His physical form was becoming more glitchy and indistinct by the second.

His arms, legs, hands and feet were all still there. He was no longer a spectre connected to the void. He had distinct features. He was meant to be a normal skeleton.

But he didn’t feel normal. He didn’t feel like he was entirely  _there_.

The sensation of the heat of Hotland was only occasionally registering. His entire body was… glitching on the spot. Pieces of himself - square shaped particles - were pulling out in different directions. He tried to walk forward, he stepped to the side. He tried to turn his head left, it turned right.

His body was acting outside of his own volition.

He didn’t need this. He was supposed to have _control_.

_He was meant to be HERE._

 

**(Did Sans do this?)**

 

With all of his focus and concentration, he summoned a Blaster to his side. He immediately felt the sensation of something tearing out of his back.

His eyesockets grew wide at the sight of three new arms grasping at the Blaster’s horns, once more.

_Why was he destabilising?_

He was _complete!_

 

**(You're not.)**

 

Gaster shook his head with a wince. **“Go _away!”_** He roared.

 

(We won't. You know that.)

 

_(What are you talking about?)_

 

His head felt as if it were about to split open. He felt one of his _normal_ limbs reach out towards the Blaster, entirely beyond his own control. He pushed back against the movement with a snarl.

No. This wasn’t right. His body was meant to be listening to him. His thoughts were meant to be listening to _him!_

 

(But they are. Aren't they?)

 

Gaster froze, watching in both horror and fascination as his arm began to slowly split down the middle. Strands of a tar like substance connected them as the two halves drifted apart, crackling, buzzing and glitching as they finally split in two seperate, fully-functional limbs.

His eyes grew wide.

 

**(Interesting.)**

 

No. _Horrifying_. This was all _wrong_ , he told himself.

 

He gripped the offending new arm, gritting his teeth in anger. This was not him. This was not a part of him. 

 

_(You didn't know this would happen?)_

 

Gaster dragged himself over to the waiting Blaster. Half by what felt like his own will… half by what seemed like multiple others. He stepped forward with one leg, his other one stepped forward automatically.

He needed… to get to the CORE. Something wasn’t right. Maybe… maybe he just needed to stabilise it, again. Then he'd be anchored to this world. These voices would leave. He’d be stable.

He’d be _himself_.

 

**(…Have you really forgotten?)**

 

_(You haven't realised?)_

 

Gaster gave the command to the Blaster, as he pulled himself astride it, holding on with multiple (how many now? 4? 5? …6?) arms. The monstrous skull obediently rose from the ground and shot off across the churning orange and red sea of magma.

He was meant to be focused, he reminded himself. He didn’t need these voices. They got in the way. All of them got in the way!

 

(You're in _our_  way.)

 

Gaster looked up at the rapidly-approaching structure of the CORE, teeth gritted in rage and agony. He was meant to be focused, level-headed. Gaster did _not_ have voices. He was _not_ unstable. His thoughts were meant to be clear! He was meant to be direct. No doubts, nothing to restrain him. He was meant to progress _onward!_

 

 _(You're a fool.)_  
****

(Did you forget?)

 

A stray hand suddenly grasped his skull, entirely beyond his control.

Gaster began to scream in fury.

 

**_(You are MORE than this!)_ **

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_Gaster didn’t know what he’d been expecting._

_Anger, perhaps. The young skeleton had every right to be angry._ **_Every_ ** _right._

_He was not._

_Sans was sitting upright in bed against the headboard, reading one of his joke books (… though the cover was that of a a physics book). He turned his head when he spotted the doctor stepping off the upper-level escalator and quickly shut it, placing it aside._

_“doc!” He said, startled. Then, he faltered. “uh… doctor.” He added, correcting himself._

_Glancing briefly to his book, a small and awkward grin appeared on his face. “…the situation really_ **_escalated_ ** _, huh?” He said, jerking a thumb at the moving contraption._

_Gaster said nothing for a moment, blinking slowly. Then, gave a deep sigh of relief._

_Sans was sitting up. Making terrible cracks, as usual. That was a good sign. The rest of the crew had confirmed he was recovering - stable. But he needed to be sure, himself._

**_“… How are you feeling, Sans?”_ **

_The skeleton shifted in position, sitting up more comfortably against the headboard. “think i’m getting better. not that dizzy, anymore.” He blinked, squinting one eye in what seemed like discomfort. “uh… my eye socket still feels really weird, though.”_

_Gaster sat at the chair next to the bedside, quickly grabbing an instrument from the side table._

**_“It’s settled down from earlier, but I should take another look. Hold still.”_ **

_Sans obliged, and Gaster held a small circular lens up to his eye socket. It beeped affirmatively, and the older skeleton withdrew it, observing the readings that popped up upon the glass._

**_“It’s fluctuating.”_ ** _He muttered to himself._ **_“But it’s staying within a safe range. I’d prefer we keep an eye on it for a while.”_ **

_Sans, after a brief moment, suddenly lapsed back into a smile again._

_“hey… good one.”_

_Gaster paused, initially confused. Then he sighed in comprehension, and rubbed the bridge of his nonexistent nose with the smallest semblance of a chuckle._

**_“This is hardly the time, Sans.”_ ** _He said, placing the instrument aside, the smile leaving his face._ **_“I take it that Owel informed you of your eye’s status?”_ **

_Sans nodded, cautiously poking at his own eye. “… she said one of ‘em’s burnt out.” He said, making a face. “that my magic was overloaded.”_

_He looked over at the doctor, his smile dropping and his eye sockets going dark in concern._

_“and uh…”_

_They lit back up, looking equal parts concerned and stunned._

_“…s-something about me… nearly becoming dust?”_

_Gaster closed his eyes._

_So Owel had decided to tell Sans, herself._

_It was probably for the best. Gaster himself had been having trouble introducing the topic in the first place._

**_“…That is correct.”_ ** _He said, quietly. Then he hurriedly sat up straight, waving up his hands in reassurance._ **_“You are past the danger now. We all made certain of that, but…”_ **

_“is everyone else okay?”_

_Gaster blinked. Sans was staring over near the escalator, which hummed quietly nearby._

_“i, uh… i didn’t hear from val.” He clarified. “d-did they get out okay?”_

_The doctor stared at him a moment, a little stunned. Here was Sans, a young skeleton faced with his own mortality - and the first thing he did was ask for another’s status._

**_“They are fine.”_ ** _Gaster said, giving a small and perplexed chuckle._ **_“Val received a small burn from containing the CORE fragment, but it is nothing serious. They are still down in the lab for now. They successfully contained the explosion.”_ **

_He leaned back in his chair._ **_“…To be frank, you were of the most concern. Everybody thought so.”_ ** _He looked down, linking his fingers in thought._ **_“You suffered extreme exposure and absorption of the CORE element. You are very lucky to be sitting here.”_ **

_The younger skeleton looked a little tense, the light fading from his eye sockets. His smile returned, though Gaster noticed it was a nervous one._

_“…i really messed up, huh?” He said, quietly._

_Gaster closed his eyes._

**_“…You were doing well, Sans.”_ ** _The doctor said, shaking his head._ **_“All of you were… I simply…”_ **

_He remembered staring reproachfully back at his contraption as it malfunctioned for what seemed like the thousandth time in his career._

_He remembered being hurled off of his feet by the explosion seconds later._

_He rubbed his forehead with a sigh._

**_“…I hesitated.”_ **

_It had been a very long, tiring process to restabilise the young skeleton. His SOUL had been on the verge of breaking into pieces. The magic in his body had become overloaded with the strange and unstable energy of the CORE._

_It could not be expelled, at first. Sans had been inches from becoming dust then and there. They’d barely managed to regulate the magic within his body. He recalled the wisps of the multicoloured energy flowing out of the young skeleton’s eye socket and fizzling away into nothingness._

**_“We managed to get most of the CORE element out of you.”_ ** _Gaster continued._ **_“There are still some small remnants in your system - they have blended in with your own magic.”_ **

_Sans seemed to tense at this._

_“my_ **_magic_ ** _?”_

 **_“The energy was attracted to your eyesockets, when they were activated.”_ ** _Gaster said, running through the motions in his head. They were the conduits for his magic, after all. Windows to the SOUL, and all that. “_ **_The CORE element was too much for your physical form to handle.”_ **

_He looked back up at Sans._ **_“As I mentioned before, we removed the energy enough to stop you from becoming completely overloaded. You seem to have lost the use of one of your eye sockets for magic use as a result. Your sight should be fine, on the other hand - and the fact that you are alive and well is an incredible sign.”_ **

_The skeleton blinked. Then, he looked down at his covers._

_“i-i guess using magic in there wasn’t the best idea, huh?”_

_Gaster sighed. They’d run through safety measures in the lab multiple times before allowing Sans back into the testing area (after the hot dog incident). They had chosen to keep Sans in the observation room to record readings during tests._

_They had never anticipated their student sharing the same airspace with the test chamber._

**_“You were… only trying to do the right thing.”_ ** _He said, quietly._ **_“I did not react quickly enough.”_ **

_They were responsible for Sans._ **_He_ ** _was responsible for Sans. That only now seemed to truly be sinking in. He had failed in that - and was fortunate that his pupil had survived this mistake. Gaster was perfectly aware that he himself could have become dust back there, down in that testing chamber._

_And he’d been spared that fate._

**_“I owe you thanks, as frightful as this experience has been.”_ ** _He said, firmly. Sans looked over at him, startled._

 _“what do you mean? you guys saved_ **_my_ ** _life.” He said, raising an eyebrow._

 **_“This was a situation that could have been avoided, on my part.”_ ** _Gaster said, softly._

 _He stood up from his chair._ **_“We need to be more careful. Progress is necessary. As is sacrifice, but… not at the expense of my crew.”_ ** _Gaster glanced down at him._ **_“Not at the expense of monster’s lives.”_ **

_Sans stared at him for a moment._

**_“We should be able to send you home in the next few days - though with frequent checkups and updates.”_ ** _He continued._ **_“You are to rest - Reno has volunteered to keep an eye on your condition in Snowdin - just in case. He will relay any anomalies to us.”_ **

_Sans blinked. “…you don’t need him here?”_

_Gaster gave a wan smile, recalling how jittery his employee had been as he wandered out the door._ **_“I believe he needs a vacation after this incident.”_ **

_The smaller skeleton sniggered, quietly. “uh, yeah. problem about that.” He grinned almost deviously. “he’s definitely not gonna get one. papyrus is a handful.”_

_Gaster blinked. Ah. That was right._

**_“I heard your brother dropped by here, earlier…”_ ** _He said, tilting his head in thought._ **_“I would have liked to have met him.”_ **

_Sans shook his head. “he needed to get home. mrs lago was sorta panicking, earlier - he’d rushed right off to hotland without saying anything. owel had to ring her up and tell her everything was okay.”_

_The skeleton made a face. “he’s probably grounded - but he’ll probably make his way back here in the morning.” He grinned. “he’s got selective hearing, sometimes - but once he’s got his mind on something, he sees it through to the end, no matter how crazy it is.”_

_He shrugged. “he’s kinda the coolest.”_

_Gaster couldn’t help but think a little on the strange relationship Sans had with his brother. It was clear from the beginning that they’d initially been alone. No parents to speak of. However, the residents of Snowdin seemed to have collectively looked out for the children._

_It was clear that Sans had chosen to look out for his brother as much as he could. But he was a brother, not a parent. Gaster hoped that Sans wasn’t responsible for encouraging Papyrus’ more outrageous behaviour._

_However, the fact remained that the small skeleton cared deeply for his brother’s wellbeing._

**_“I would have let him remain here, if possible.”_ ** _Gaster said._ **_“But…”_ **

_“yeah, i know.” Sans said, quietly. “safety regulations. besides, sometimes he doesn’t sleep.”_

_He looked back up at Gaster, suddenly returning to a more serious state. “so… after i go home, i’m guessing that i’m probably not coming back in here for a while.”_

_The older skeleton paused. Then, he sighed._

**_“You need rest, for now.”_ ** _He paused, thinking hard. Sans was lucky that rest was all he needed at this point._

_Still, looking at his pupil, he was uneasy._

**_“If… If I were to be completely honest with you Sans, I would prefer it if you considered other options than working with us.”_ **

_He managed to keep his gaze firm, even when the younger skeleton’s eye sockets grew wide in surprise._

_“i… but doc!” Sans corrected himself. “_ **_doctor_ ** _, i know i screwed up, but - i really want this!” He sat up straight. “this is something i’ve always wanted to do! i-if you let me, i’ll - ”_

**_“Sans.”_ **

_The younger skeleton paused, and Gaster closed his eyes, slowly shaking his head._

**_“I am not dismissing you.”_ **

_His eyes reopened._

**_“And I am not discrediting your abilities. You learn quickly. You’ve been suggesting some intriguing theories… not to mention, you’ve become increasingly good at maintenance, down in the lab.”_ ** _He brightened, suddenly._ **_“I would really like to see how you fare on the engineering side of things.”_ **

_Gaster faltered._ **_“But… you are still quite young. Your brother depends on you, as well.”_ ** _He muttered, his shoulders relaxing._ **_“You’ve seen firsthand that this can be an incredibly risky field. You are aware of its dangers, and how… quickly things can go south. You were told this in your introduction, but - I feel I must state it again here for good measure.”_ **

_He looked back up at Sans, who seemed to suddenly be taking that thought into consideration._

**_“Do you understand?”_ **

_The younger skeleton looked up at him. He looked tired._

_“… yeah. i get it, doc.” He suddenly sat up straight, blinking. “uh - doctor. sorry.”_

_Gaster shook his head._ **_“I see Sprig is rubbing off on you.”_ ** _He said, chuckling._

 _The doctor turned and pointed to a radio lying on the bedside table._ **_“I must tend to things. Val and I are staying overnight. Please call us if anything feels strange. Do you understand?”_ **

_Sans nodded, looking increasingly sleepy - and a bit startled. “got it, doc.”_

_He leaned back down on the bed, blinking blearily. Gaster eyed him with some concern, but his eye didn’t appear to be acting up. The boy was simply exhausted, and he was losing consciousness too quickly for him to properly register it._

_He was out like a light within moments. His body was still catching up with the stress of the energy overload. Gaster surmised that it would take a while for Sans to properly regulate his own magical energy again._

_Hopefully sooner rather than later._

_Slowly, Gaster stepped back, turning towards the escalator._

**_“Sleep well.”_ ** _He said, as an afterthought._

_He descended down to the ground floor, in silence. He strode forward past the security console, only to soon lean back on the wall and give a heavy sigh, massaging his temples._

_“You seem exhausted yourself, my dear.”_

_The doctor jolted in alarm, spinning to the side. Val was right next to him, their large head tilting to the side. As usual, they seemed to have appeared out of nowhere._

_“Are you sure you are fit for staying overnight? You have slept less than anyone else here.” They said._

_A smile appeared on Gaster’s features._ **_“Besides you, old friend.”_ ** _He said, pointedly._

_“You know I do not need it.” The serpentine monster smiled back. “How is he faring, by the way? I heard him speak.” They peered up towards the second floor._

**_“He seems to be of sound mind and body.”_ ** _The doctor said, continuing to walk towards the elevator entrance, Val slithering after him._ **_“I am simply… concerned about things developing in the future.”_ **

_“Understandably, doctor.” Val nodded, with a sigh. “We shall remain cautiously optimistic.”_

_They glanced up at him._

_“After all, he recovered much more quickly than you did, all those years ago.”_

_Slowly, Gaster’s hands rose to his eyesockets._

_His fingers experimentally traced the cracks that travelled up and down his face._

**_“And much more unscathed.”_ ** _He added, with a sigh._

_They headed into the elevator. Much of the downstairs labs were in low power mode - the explosion in the testing chamber had shorted out a lot of the machinery._

_“You are still hoping that nothing more manifests.”_ _Val said, as they descended downwards. They glanced up at him._ **_“_ ** _What will you do if he does begin to share symptoms with you?”_

 _Gaster shook his head._ **_“He does not need to deal with that, now.”_ ** _He said, as the elevator doors slid open._

_They headed down the hall, directly to the observation chamber they’d all occupied a mere two days ago._

_Gaster and Val entered the room almost cautiously, glancing about their surroundings. The reinforced window that overlooked the testing chamber had several cracks framing it. There were a few burns among the floor and walls - and several of the buttons on the control panel were melted down, slightly._

_“Do you think it is salvageable?” Val looked around, composed as ever. Yet Gaster could tell they were concerned for the state of their beloved instruments and smiled._

**_“I believe they will be functional again within days.”_ ** _He reassured his friend._ **_“But there’s another matter to attend to.”_ **

_Val glanced over at him, knowingly._

_“Seeing if it is still safe to continue experiments of this nature?” They looked back at the control panel. “I suppose that this is a small price to pay.”_

_Gaster looked into the test chamber. It was in shambles - the force of the explosion had warped the metal of the machine, and even the ceramics of the floor tiles seemed to have melted outwards, frozen in some kind of ripple. Glass shards littered the ground, and there was a ring of black scorch marks surrounding the contraption._

_The readings on the control panel still indicated that there was still CORE energy in the chamber. They probably wouldn’t be able to approach it for another few days to salvage their materials - and it would take much longer to restore the chamber to proper working order._

_However, none of that was Gaster’s main concern._

_He drew in a deep breath. Time to assess the damage._

_Gaster focused. The white pinpricks in his eye sockets faded briefly into black._

_Both suddenly lit up, flickering wildly between violet and green._

_The sound of static reached him. The air around him seemed to slit open in several spaces, each tear filled with black particles that poured out with a low buzz._

_He turned his attention to the testing chamber itself, squinting in focus._

_The largest hole of all was within the chamber, hovering ominously just above the ruined machine. Unlike its surrounding counterparts, it was roaring loudly and incessantly - small, square black particles flickering about._

_This tear in space-time was unstable and volatile._

_It would take a very long time to settle down._

_“…Is it bad?” Val asked, peering curiously into the testing chamber._

_Gaster cringed, blinking and deactivating his eyesockets. The world around him silenced, returning to normal._

**_“… we may have to consider moving our base of operations.”_ ** _He said, slowly._


	15. A Connection

_“...Any time it hits the **red zone** , though - you drop everything. You run as fast as you can out of there, because I’m not counting on your luck this time around.”_

_“uh… huh.”_

_There was a pause._

_“Are you listening, kid?”_

_Gaster, sitting at his desk, peered curiously over his papers to see Sans snapping to attention before an irritated Owel._

_The younger skeleton blinked, blearily. “sorry. i just - **zoned** out, to be honest.” He grinned, suddenly regaining his previous energy. The sea green monster drew in a sharp and frustrated breath._

_“You don’t get a free pass just because you’ve been sick for weeks.” She said with a glare. “You have a lot of catching up to do on this front, and I’m not gonna keep holding your hand for much longer.”_

_There was a pause._

_Sans opened his mouth._

_“And if you make a pun based on that fact that I cannot literally hold your hand, I’m kicking you out.” Owel added, flatly._

_Sans closed him mouth. “sorry, ma’am.”_

_Gaster gave a silent chuckle._

_It had been a month since the terrible accident in the old lab. Sans had been recuperating back in Snowdin’s Snowed Inn, under the care of Mrs Lago, her sister (and arguably Papyrus). His magic was monitored throughout the healing process by Reno, and it slowly settled down to a manageable state._

_During that time, Gaster had made the decision to move their base of operations to the CORE facility itself._

_While in hindsight it appeared risky, the facility had specifically been created with the full extent of CORE’s unpredictable energy in mind. In the underground Lab, they had been less secure - even with a small fraction of the CORE’s energy (though nobody liked the idea of performing such experiments so close to the main CORE itself…)._

_One of Gaster’s eye sockets briefly glimmered its telltale violet and green, as he gave the room a quick glance._

_There wasn’t any sign of major instability. He’d made certain of that._

_When Sans had returned to work at the CORE, there were initial concerns when he’d reacted with a sharp pain in his eyesocket. However, upon quickly checking his magic levels, it only appeared the remnants of the CORE element within him was reacting to being in the vicinity of the main CORE itself._

_The pain had ebbed away in moments, but Sans voiced his displeasure at the likelihood of having a headache every time he walked into work._

_“Well, what’s new?” Sprig had retorted, causing a surprised Sans to start laughing._

_Gaster smiled._

_Ever since Sans had returned from his recovery period, the staff had been fussing over him._

_The stern Owel still didn’t tolerate any sign of Sans slacking off or daydreaming. However, her lecturing was sometimes affectionate - she would occasionally make the effort to work in a pun and move on to the next subject before Sans could completely register it - but for the rest of her lecture, the young skeleton would be beaming._

_The aloof Sprig had sent folders of notes of their more recent projects to Sans in Snowdin, while he’d been recovering at the Inn. He stated that he didn’t want to have to waste time explaining the projects that Sans had missed. In wake of meeting the young Papyrus, Sprig had also started sending junior jumble puzzles mixed in with the work notes._

_The usually polite, but distant Val occasionally roped the young skeleton into a conversation, and had even begun to teach Sans about the console controls for the CORE. They had always been patient with younger members of their team, especially Reno - but Gaster could pick up on Val’s eagerness to show Sans the ropes (and the occasional idle gossip)._

_The skittish Reno had spent a lot of time monitoring Sans (and inadvertently Papyrus) in Snowdin, as requested of his superiors. While the two had generally gotten along, Gaster had noted a new dynamic when the skeleton had returned. Sans enjoyed affectionately teasing Reno, who would suddenly shed his nerves and come up with a long and sophisticated retaliation on the spot (It sometimes turned into a race to one-up the other)._

_Gaster let his smile become a little somber._

_He glanced down at one of his nearby folders, the tab poking out from the very bottom of the stack. Dashes - roman numerals - had been added to it._

_He was thankful that he hadn’t had to add to the total in more than a few months._

_Gaster looked back up at Sans and Owel._

_Seeing his crew perk up like this for the first time in a while…_

_… it filled him with…_

_He paused._

_Well, it certainly made a lot of things more tolerable…_

 

 

* * *

 

 

Eyes forward.

Stay aware.

Stay calm.

Undyne drew in a breath. They were still in the control room. Sans was at the console. The violet light of the CORE shone upon them, flickering slightly.

She’d completely barricaded the door with a mess of crackling spears. Layer upon layer - the corridor wasn’t even visible anymore. There was no way she was letting the doctor get through.

“You better not be wasting time back there!” She said, sternly. Sans had been typing at the control console for several minutes now, and there was no change in the CORE’s appearance. She knew that the startup sequence would take a while, but not _this_ long…

“hey, i never waste time.” Sans said with a dry chuckle. “it’s always… well-spent. naps and the like…”

Undyne cringed. He was sounding worse as the seconds ticked by. He seemed to constantly be drifting, having to snap himself out of it again and again…

“How much longer until Gaster is toast?” She asked, glancing over her shoulder.

Sans shook his head, face screwing up in concentration. “gimme five… maybe ten minutes.” His hands flew over the controls. “can’t expect a miracle at this point - ”

Something screeched.

Sans froze.

Undyne spun around, staring at her barricade of spears. The area around them began to hum. The CORE began to flicker and flash, churning and crackling even more violently.

Undyne’s eye grew wide.

“… he’s here.”

Sans’ voice sounded small. She snarled. Damn it.

“Keep at it!” She yelled, looking over her shoulder. “I’ll hold him off, don't you _dare_ stop, knucklehead!”

“i'm _working_ , cap.” He snarled back at her, his voice unusually terse. The movements of his hands were starting to slow. “… just... just get off my _back...”_

His voice almost sounded guttural, as he turned back to the controls. His eyes, flickering with blue were reflected in the reinforced glass, squinting in confusion.

"get _away..._ " He mumbled to himself. "just... _stay away..."_

“What the hell are you _talking_ about?” Undyne asked, gritting her teeth.

Something creaked. She spun around to face her barricade of spears.

Something… black was seeping through the centre of the formation. Something almost… tarlike in substance. There were black, square particles surrounding it as it leaked through, slowly snaking downwards to the floor.

Undyne swallowed, a little disgusted. She summoned an extra layer of spears with a sweep of her hand, and the black substance was concealed.

“What the _hell…?”_

This didn’t seem right. The black square particles, the strange buzzing…

Had that thing really been Gaster?

The last time she’d seen the doctor, he’d been… well, normal-looking. As normal-looking as a strange, otherworldly monster could be, at least. She didn’t know what ‘destabilising the anchor’ would do to Gaster, but…

…But Sans hadn’t properly destabilised the CORE yet, had he? In fact, he was progressing slower the closer the doctor was to the scene. Was this just another weird ability the doctor had?

“… where is he…?” Sans whispered.

Undyne blinked. Was he _growling?_

_“he’s calling me…”_

The sound of claws scraping on metal reached her ears. She gritted her teeth, glancing back at Sans. He _was_ growling. He was gripping the edge of the control panel, eyes shut. He was starting to lose it, again.

Gaster was getting to him.

“Stay _focused_ Sans, or I swear I’ll kick your ass!” Undyne roared, turning back to the barricade. The black, tarlike substance was starting to leak through her latest addition of spears.

_“stay… away….”_

Undyne spun around. Sans’ movements had slowed even more. He was leaning against the control panel with his hands. No sign of changes, but…

Her rage turned to horror as she caught sight of his reflection in the reinforced glass.

His eyes were blazing with blue light.

Undyne glanced back over her shoulder. The mass of black was starting to leak through her barricade of spears.

Gaster was reaching Sans. He was reaching Sans, who hadn’t even completed the startup sequence.

Undyne whipped around on the spot, gritting her teeth. 

“No you _don’t._ ” 

She charged at Sans, who spun to face her, wide-eyed. She weaved to his side -

\- and landed a hard and precise blow at the back of his skull.

Sans’ blazing eyesockets extinguished, and went completely dark. He fell back, his eyes closing. The energy surrounding him subsided, and Undyne caught the unconscious skeleton.

Yeesh. Papyrus had been right. He really _was_ frail.

But at least he'd stopped freaking out.

Her eyes fell onto the controls as she hoisted Sans onto her shoulder.

It was all gibberish to her. Nothing she could work out. But the skeleton would’ve been trouble if she’d let him continue. He’d been inches from changing on the spot…

She hissed. Damn it.

The plan had been to safely destabilise the CORE was going belly-up. 

_Like every single other plan they'd come up with before now._

_“NNGAAAHHH!”_

With a roar, Undyne hurled a spear into the ground.

The floor gave way, as she’d intended and she dropped down into the room below with a snarl.

She’d had it with this string of screw-ups. There were some factors that she hadn’t been able to control - and plenty of others that should have been within reach. It angered her to no end.

Sans may have had the information on who Gaster was, or how to beat him - but he wasn’t exactly level-headed enough to pull off the execution on his own. The stubborn little skeleton had constantly bitten off more than he could chew - and Undyne was sick of it.

For the moment, _she_  was taking charge.

She looked up at the hole in the ceiling, sensing her spear barricade beginning to give way. If she ventured away far enough, they would dissolve completely.

She had to get out of the facility. They were cornered in here - she needed a more level playing field. For now, she just needed to avoid Gaster.

She glanced at Sans, still unconscious over her shoulder.

Otherwise, the doctor would gain another cannon. And she wasn’t about to let any of her friends down on that front.

Undyne charged out the room, leaping over the debris she’d created. Running down the corridor, she noted that the lighting was still flickering. The occasional splutter of power that the CORE was still powering the facility.

She’d run a good twenty feet before she felt her spear barricade a floor up dissolve completely.

Something crashed. She continued to run, glancing over her shoulder in curiosity.

She didn’t see anything. But she heard something.

A scream.

The sound of Gaster screaming in rage from upstairs. His voice sounded distorted. It sounded like it was echoing throughout the whole facility…

Undyne blinked.

… It _was_ echoing throughout the whole facility. It seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

She felt Sans tense in her grip. Initially fearing that he’d regained consciousness, she realized that he was only stirring.

Undyne blinked. Dreaming? At a time like this?

Or had it been Gaster’s scream?

She shook her head. Whatever the case, she hoped he stayed down and out. On the best of days, Sans was clever. And, as she’d recently learned, actually pretty freaking tough.

But right now… he was nothing but _trouble_.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_It happened one afternoon in the control room of the CORE._

_Sans had been nursing his temporary headache as usual upon arriving at work. It was being persistent - but a quick checkup by Sprig had indicated that he wasn’t in any danger._

_The skeleton sat in one of the chairs of the control room to the side, as Gaster briefed him and Reno of their task for the day (Val quietly worked at the controls, as usual)._

_**“… I must implore you both to read the updates on Solution Theta, based on our recent discoveries.”** The doctor continued, speaking calmly but keeping a wary eye on Sans. “ **There’s already been a few melted beakers this morning, and we can’t afford to lose much more of our equipment.”**_

_Reno flinched, wide-eyed. “It can’t be contained. We’ve failed to contain it.” He clawed his hands, arching backwards. “The solution is slipping through our fingers! And every glass container we have!”_

_“stay glassy, reno.” Sans blinked, still rubbing at his eye socket. “so i guess we use somethin’ else?”_

_**“We’re currently using titanium to store it - it will be hard to observe any reactions, but it’s what we have to work with.”** The doctor thought a moment. **“Val is suggesting suspending it in midair with magic while testing, but that could be incredibly risky.”** Gaster muttered, pondering._

_“At this rate, it is a matter of trial and error.” Val said idly, from the other side of the room._

_“… well. i guess we’ll_ **_trial_ ** _our best, huh reno?” Sans said, grinning._

_Reno abandoned his dramatic pose to slump before the smaller skeleton, his eyes narrowed in a rare kind of glare._

_“You’re never going to stop that, are you?”_

_Sans shrugged. “why would i?”_

_“It’s abhorrent! They’re awful!” He stood up straight, pointing a finger to the air. “If you’re going to play with words, do it with dignity! Strength! Meaning!”_

_Sans shrugged. “so, uh… should I start using rhyming couplets, too?” He said with a grin._

_Reno straightened, his eyes narrowing. “There is **strength** in simplicity, Sans!_ _”_

_“anyhow.” The skeleton glanced up at Gaster. “where are the solutions stored, doc?”_

_Gaster shook his head at their antics. He turned away, approaching Val at the controls. **“We placed it in level B2, correct?”**_

_“Room QT-1.” The serpentine monster said, without looking away from the controls. “Corridor 5, Y-Class. Patterned with the red stripes, so use the appropriate safety gear.”_

_Gaster nodded. **“Did you get all that, you two?”**_

_There was a sudden gasp and a clatter._

_Confused, the doctor turned to face Reno and Sans._

_His face fell._

_Sans was on his feet. He looking around, wide-eyed. His grin had dropped, his expression startled and confused._

_“w-wha…”_

_Gaster tensed._

_Sans’ eye socket was flashing blue and yellow._

_Just as it had every time his magic had become unstable while bedridden. The younger skeleton stumbled back, his gaze darting around the room in caution. He didn’t seem to be in pain - but he looked incredibly unsettled._

_Reno stepped forward, wide-eyed and sweating. “Sans? A-Are you okay?”_

_The smaller skeleton took another step back, continuing to glance around the room as if he hadn’t heard his co-worker._

_“doooc…?” He inquired, cautiously. “w-what’s going on…?”_

_Gaster stepped toward him, trying not to let his expression betray any semblance of panic. They’d discouraged Sans from using any kind of magic before they were sure he was properly regulating his energy again. They had been careful. There had been no ill effects._

_But there was nothing that indicated that Sans had suddenly chosen to use his magic here and now._

_Had it been unwitting? Was he beyond control?_

_“Saaaaans?” Reno reached out to him, increasingly nervous as he stared at his eyesocket. “We’re getting you to the infirmary, okay?”_

_The younger skeleton shook his head, blinking blearily as if disoriented. He began to squint._

_“…my eye feels - ”_

_There was a buzz. A crackle. Sans fell backwards, as if stunned._

_And vanished on the spot._

_Gaster withdrew, alarmed. He stood and looked around the room, his panic rising._

_Sans was gone._

_Val stared hard at the spot the younger skeleton had been moments ago._

_“…That is new.” They said, their pupils shrinking into pinpricks._

_Reno’s hands shot up to clutch the sides of his head. “SANS?!”_

_Gaster stumbled back, wide-eyed. This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t possible._

_He’d disappeared. His eye socket had reacted, and he’d disappeared._

_The doctor stared downwards, stunned._

_His eye…_

_The CORE energy had manifested in the young skeleton. There had hardly been any left in his system - and yet the strange and unpredictable element must have manifested, somehow. But Sans couldn’t have just vanished into thin air._

_Gaster blinked._

_Unless…_

_Unless he’d simply…_

_Gaster activated his eyesockets, flashing between green and violet. Val fell silent, Reno only screamed louder - the more recent recent inductee to the Royal Science team had never witnessed this aspect of the doctor’s abilities._

_“What do you see, my friend?” Val asked, calmly._

_Gaster’s eyes grew wide._

_There, where Sans had been standing moments earlier, was a black rift. It gave a low buzzing sound - nothing indicated that it could be unstable._

_… This couldn’t be._

_The doctor hesitantly reached towards it - then withdrew his hand._

**_“…He fell in.”_ ** _He said, horrified._

_Val was silent for a moment. Then, their pupils shrank into pinpricks, comprehension dawning._

_“That should not be possible.”_

_“Fell in? Fell in where? Fell_ **_down!?_ ** _” Reno was gripping his head. “Monsters don’t vanish like this! W-where’s his dust?! Where’d he go?!”_

_Val took Reno aside to calm him down, as Gaster continued to stare at the rift._

_He’d fallen into it. To a place the doctor could not properly reach._

_Gaster took a step backwards, trying to analyse the situation, rather than panic. Again, his pupil was in danger, and again, he felt responsible. His energy could not be directed into self-blame for now, however - he needed to stay focused._

_A thought occurred to him, and a hand rose to his chin._

_Was Sans truly gone…?_

_Hesitantly, Gaster’s gaze drifted about the room, taking in the other few rifts that were present within it._

_…Or had Sans simply fallen into an entrance?_

_With many, many exits?_

_His mind made up, Gaster spun on the spot, hurrying past Val and Reno._

_“You have a plan.” The orange monster observed. Gaster called over his shoulder as he ran out to the corridor._

**_“Call Sprig! Get him to check the security monitors. Immediately!”_ **

 

 

* * *

 

  _Sans didn’t know where he was._

_It was like he’d been plunged into something icy cold - although there was no pain or discomfort - simply numbness. He felt weightless, though he found some purchase for his body as he’d fallen back and landed hard on… something._

_He heard the sound of static all around him. It was quiet, and a little maddening, but the young skeleton couldn’t care less at the moment._

_Everywhere he looked, it was some kind of… blackness. His surroundings seemed to go on forever. His immediate surroundings were punctuated by rifts of bright light - surrounded by white, square particles that seemed to be surging into them._

_One was right in front of him. Sans scrambled away from it in alarm, his eye socket aching._

_“…what.”_

_Everything sounded muffled - as if he were underwater._

_Where was he? Where had everyone gone?_

_He pulled himself to his feet, looking around at all the rifts. Sans didn’t panic easily, but he was coming close. He grasped at his eye - while his headache had been subsiding, a new sensation seemed to stem from the strange energy inside it. It felt like his skull was going numb, tingling incessantly._

_He stumbled back, eyes darting around. A humming sound was growing louder and louder the further he backed up - and suddenly he tripped backwards._

_There was a roar of static, and he was enveloped in bright light._

_Dizziness flooded his skull, and he felt himself collapse backwards hard onto a tile floor._

_Sans blinked._

_No more darkness. Still… a lot of buzzing. He saw a black rift of sorts before him, surrounded by black particles._

_His eye sockets grew wide._

_Just like… the ones he’d seen in the main lab, earlier…?_

_“What the- ”_

_Jolting at the sound of a new voice, Sans realized that he was indeed back in the facility - though nowhere near the main lab he’d been in seconds ago. He was in one of side corridors - and no longer alone. Owel was standing there, staring at him with rare surprise._

_“Kid?”_

_Her expression grew concerned. “What’s happening with your eye? Are you alright?”_

_Sans hurriedly stood up, trying to get his bearings. “w-what just…?”_

_He didn’t get to finish his sentence. He stumbled back, still disoriented._

_A buzz, a crackle._

_Sans’ hearing had gone muffled, once more. He glimpsed Owel’s startled face peering back at him from one of the many white rifts that suddenly popped up around him. She vanished._

_The skeleton gritted his teeth. He was back in the darkness. His eye was stinging and he still felt incredibly dizzy and what the_ **_heck_ ** _was going on?!_

 _He wanted to get out of here. And_ **_stay_ ** _out of here. This place was really giving him the creeps._

_But how would he -_

_Sans froze._

_The younger skeleton’s gaze fell onto the white rifts that surrounded him. Rifts that looked exactly like the black ones he’d seen in the facility._

_Something clicked._

_He charged directly at one of them._

_A buzz, a crackle. And the muffled noises that had surrounded him were now completely clear._

_Sans fell forward and hit a cold, steel floor on the other side._

_He lay there facedown for a moment, his head spinning. The cool metal felt nice on his skull._

_To his relief, the pain and dizziness were slowly subsiding._

_After a few moments, he lifted his head. His eye was illuminating the darkness of… wherever he was. It was flashing between yellow and his usual blue._

_His hand rose to it in confusion, before he heard an electric hum from above. Too dizzy to stand up, he pushed himself to roll onto his back. And stared upwards._

_“… huh.” He whispered._

_It was another black rift. He’d fallen straight out of it._

_Sans shook his head, wincing at his eye beginning to sting. He focused, trying to release his hold on this strange new magic. It had activated earlier without him really thinking about it._

_It took a few attempts, but soon it complied. The room fell back into a dim light, and the pain ebbed away._

_The rift disappeared. So did the humming sound. He stared up at the space where it had been moments ago, stunned._

_“… how about that?” Sans said, bewildered._

_Had it really disappeared?_

_…Or was it still there?_

_Sans rubbed at his eyesocket, his headache finally fading. He didn’t really feel like checking again at the moment._

_Hesitantly, he slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. He took a deep breath as he shook his head, finally looking up to take in his surroundings._

_He blinked._

_The skeleton was sitting in a narrow and dusty steel room._

_Sans surmised that the room itself was actually quite large - but the walls were padded with what looked like ancient machines. Some were still active, beeping quietly and incessantly. The lighting was dim. The room was incredibly run down, the metal floor, wall and ceiling all corroding a little._

_The skeleton sat there a few moments longer, waiting for the dizziness to fade completely. Then, he finally stood up, glancing about._

_He’d never seen this place before. It didn’t even look like it was part of the CORE facility._

_Sans frowned. He turned to look over his shoulder to what he supposed was the room’s entrance. A massive steel blast door towered over him, and he grimaced. He sorta hoped this place at least had cellphone reception. Otherwise, he was probably stuck…_

_His train of thought ground to a halt when his gaze landed at the very end of the room._

_Something was… hanging there. Suspended by wires and tubes, illuminated from above by pale, fluorescent lighting that cast stark shadows upon it. Dust floated down from above it. Not the bad kind of dust (or at least he hoped not)._

_Sans approached it, cautiously._

_It was a skull._

_A large, beastly skull - spikes poking backwards from its cranium. It almost resembled a canine skull, if not for its broader width and bulk. It had massive, jagged teeth that almost seemed too big for its jaw. It had cracks and dints and scratches. It had a tube connected to its eyesocket, another to the inside of its mouth, several to its sides…_

_Machinery hummed above it. Sans took another step forward._

_It looked old. Run-down. Whatever this thing was, it hadn’t been used in years._

_The young skeleton glanced around. Now he was doubly sure that he wasn’t meant to be here. He hoped the room’s door was open - he wasn’t sure if he could stomach another foray into… wherever he’d gone._

_There was a small clack._

_Sans blinked, glancing around. Nothing._

_The machines around him seemed to hum louder. The skeleton’s eyes darted around. Still nothing._

_Something shifted out of the corner of his eye._

_Sans spun to face the skull. A white ring had appeared within the darkness of its visible eyesocket._

_Its static gaze drifted to him. The skull’s teeth began to chatter and clack together._

_Sans took a step back, wide-eyed._

_Its jaw opened.The lower jaw split in half, opening outwards. There was a wheezing, rattling noise as faint wisps of white energy began to gather in its maw._

_There was a loud hiss of machinery. Bright light spilled into the room from behind Sans._

_The skeleton dared not take his eyes off the skull, even when he heard familiar voices yelling from behind him. He heard the sound of rapid footsteps thundering past him, the vague image of a long white lab coat billowing after._

_There was a yank in his collar as a hand pulled him away from the strange skull. Sans was startled out of his stunned state, realising that it was Gaster who was charging towards the creature._

**_“Stay_ ** **_calm_ ** **_! ”_ **

_The doctor slammed a hand decisively upon the skull’s forehead._

_And instantly, it stilled. The energy in its maw dissipated, and its jaw swung closed. The rattling ceased completely._

**_“Easy.”_ ** _Gaster said to it, softly._ **_“There is nothing to fear.”_ **

_The creature robotically stared forward. Sans realized it was Reno who had tugged him back, and who was now steadily releasing his collar._  
****

_Finally, the light in the skull’s eye socket dimmed back into darkness._

_Gaster slowly backed away from the strange creature. Then, he turned to face Sans._

**_“Outside.”_ ** _He sighed, visibly relieved._

_The smaller skeleton felt himself being pulled out of the room. Gaster trailed after, glancing over his shoulder at the skull, allowing the door to slide closed behind him._

_Sans noted that the outside of the reinforced door was patterned in cautionary yellow and black tape. They were in a corridor - patterned just like the ones in the CORE facility._

_Huh. He probably hadn’t travelled that far after all. They were just in another part of the building - though in an area Sans had never seen. It didn’t look well maintained - as if people had stopped using it years ago._

_Still a little stunned, he was startled to see a lens being thrust up to his eye socket._

_“He’s stable.” Owel said, holding said lens with telekinetic magic. “A little bit of fluctuating, but nowhere near the danger zone.”_

_Sans was suddenly yanked up in the air by his lapels. Reno had picked him up and was now holding him to the ceiling._

_“SANS! Are you alright!?” Reno cried. Then, he lowered Sans to face level, eyes narrowing. “Are you even_ **_here_ ** _?” He whispered, cautiously._

_“He is indeed right here, my dear.” Val smiled at the red monster, who finally lowered the young skeleton to the ground. “Thankfully.”_

_“You’re gonna give us all heart-attacks one day, kiddo.” Sprig said, flatly. He was standing back from the group, eyebrows raised._

**_“Are you hurt?”_ ** _Gaster_ _inquired, his expression cautious._

_Sans shook his head._

_“i’m okay. just kinda dizzy.” He looked up at the group, wide-eyed._

_Everyone had come after him. Had he really freaked them out that badly?_

_“what… just happened?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “where are we?”_

_“The lower levels of the CORE facility.” Val said, glancing around the area. “It has been a very long time since I have seen this place.”_

_“The CORE underground?” Owel asked, glancing about. “… I’ve never been here before. Not even when I started working.”_

_“It was sealed off! We went through reinforced doors! It was blocked by puzzles! Passwords! Bone prints!” Reno said, wringing his hands._

_“And you got here in seconds, kiddo.” Sprig said, incredulous. “Had to check to see if my camera feed was broken the moment you popped up on the screen.”_

_Sans blinked, slowly._

_“… how did i get here?” He asked._

_After a brief pause, the entire crew turned to Gaster, who sighed heavily with his eyes closed. The younger skeleton noted that he looked very tired, all of a sudden._

_Sans was startled to see the doctor’s eye sockets suddenly reopen, flickering between violet and green._

**_“… I have a theory.”_ ** _Gaster began._

 

 

* * *

 

 

The lights continued to flicker throughout the CORE facility as Undyne charged on, glancing around.

Damn it. This entire place was a labyrinth. She’d been trying her best to avoid the floor where she’d come from, but she had a feeling Gaster was hot on her trail, no matter what level she busted through to.

She needed to find a way back to the entrance. The floors weren’t exactly marked in level - the paint and signs had been worn away or taken down. Everything looked the same.

Undyne glimpsed the stairwell coming up on her left. She dashed up a flight of stairs, screeching to a halt when she realized that she’d reached the control room from earlier.

Well, at least she knew where she was.

She glanced around. The exit was on this level - now all she needed to do was -

There was a screech of metal from above.

Undyne jumped back, eye wide as metal panels from the ceiling clattered down before her. And a large, spindly mass of blackness followed soon after.

Undyne blinked.

The being towered over her.

Several arms of varying lengths stuck out of his back, elbows bent and splayed out.

Their white, bony hands were planted on the floor, walking in a spiderlike motion in place of his legs.

His feet were suspended a few feet above the ground, his body limp. His… ‘normal arms’ hung limply forward.

The black mass that served as his body was dripping, as if made of tar. Anything that fell onto the floor disintegrated into black particles and faded.

His scarred face rose to look up at her. His maddened eyes were wide, purple pinpricks appearing right in their center.

Undyne cringed.

“Didn’t think it was _possible_ , but you got even uglier, doc.”

Gaster’s pupils darted over to Sans, still unconscious on her shoulder. She stepped back.

**_HAND HIM OVER._ **

One of his limp forearms reached forward, trembling. She backed up, summoning a spear to her side.  
****

**_HE DID THIS._ **  
****

His expression contorted into rage.  
****

**_HE_ ** **_DID THIS. THIS IS_ ** **_HIS_ ** **_FAULT._ **   
****

Suddenly he froze. He flinched away from Undyne, expression becoming neutral. His tone analytical.  
****

_THIS IS YOUR OWN FAULT._

The captain blinked. “Wha…?”

 _YOU KNOW THIS WON’T FIX ANYTHING._ Gaster said, sternly, a hand cupping his chin in thought.

Undyne continued to back away, cautiously.

Well. He’d completely lost it.

**_YOU’RE WRONG._ **

He was angry again. His tone was shaking in fury.  
****

**_I’M COMPLETE. I SHOULD BE HERE. I SHOULD BE_ ** **_HERE_ ** **.** He reached out towards them again, his eyes wide. **_HAND HIM OVER!_**  
****

Undyne swung Sans under her arm, holding him away from Gaster. Her spear crackled in her grasp.

…Alright. All or nothing. Time to see if this worked.

She charged forward, diving under Gaster and weaving through his arms. As she slid past, she swiped him with her spear.

PING-G.

She rolled forward, landing in a crouch with one hand on the ground. The dim and flickering corridor lit up with green light, and she spun on the spot, jumping to her feet.

Her eye narrowed.

It was _very_ different from last time.

While Gaster had been affected by the GREEN attack all the way back in Hotland, it had taken almost all of her concentration to maintain that shield and keep him still. Heck, she’d almost fainted from trying to keep Sans’ Blaster attack at bay.

But now, the drain on her magical energies were absent. It still felt… strange. Wrong. But she didn’t feel like she was about to pop a vessel from the strain.

Gaster was trapped. The telltale green shield had materialised on one of his arms. He was starting to scream, again, twisting and writhing on the spot.

Undyne blinked.

His SOUL was in view. Coloured green, as she’d intended.

But…

Her eye narrowed. She remembered it looking strange before - glitchy-looking, with large chunks missing. It seemed more solid, now - looking more distinctly like a monster SOUL.

 

Except for _one thing._

 

Gaster screeched again, pushing against the magic that bound him. She took that as her cue to leave. She didn’t have time for this. The shield would last for a certain distance, then disappear. She had to be ready for that.

Undyne thundered down the hall, catching sight of a destroyed door. It was one of the doors that had been blown away via Blaster - the trail of destruction she and Sans had followed to get to the control room.

She drew in a breath. That was their ticket out. Hopefully the doctor would be too slow to catch up…

She made a face. That reminded her. Why hadn’t he summoned his Blasters to begin with?

He hadn’t looked focused. He didn’t even look like he was entirely _there_.

Undyne frowned as she ran, dashing past the slightly melted steel doorframe.

What was _happening_ to him…?

Another scream echoed through the facility, and Undyne glanced around, startled. Either the acoustics were incredible in here, or Gaster’s voice seemed to be coming from everywhere, like before -

A movement caught her eye.

Undyne faced forward once more in surprise, as the air suddenly seemed to split open before her into a flickering, transparent rift of darkness.

She weaved around it, startled, and looked around as she continued to run down the corridor.

There were a few weird rifts… just… _floating_ there. Faded and flickering. She wasn’t about to touch them - they sounded like the bad reception she got on her TV set in Waterfall. Except… much more angry-sounding.

They flickered again, before vanishing on the spot. Undyne continued to charge down the corridor, her face twisted into a frown.

“… What the hell was _that_?” She muttered.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_Sans stared at Gaster in silence, his eyesockets wide and completely dim._

_He currently had a mug clutched in his hands, filled with sickly yellow soda that he’d poured for himself earlier. He hadn’t touched it, yet. He was still trying to wrap his head around what the doctor had just said._

_“… a tear in spacetime.” He echoed._

_They were sitting at one of the tables in the break room. Owel and Reno had gone home, exhausted from the day’s events. Sprig remained, taking notes on a nearby table. Sans had a feeling that he might be eavesdropping._

**_“They are present all over the Underground.”_ ** _Gaster said, thoughtfully._ **_“From Home to New Home. I have seen a great many of them scattered about the caverns.”_ **

_Sans blinked, the light returning to his eyes. As an afterthought, he activated his eye socket, the dim room lighting up a little with blue and yellow. The tears came into view - there were only a couple in here._

_“so… you see them, too?” He asked, looking around briefly. He blinked again and his eyes returned to normal._

_“… but why do we have them all over the place?” Sans asked, frowning. “sounds, uh… kinda dangerous.”_

_Gaster thought a moment._ **_“I am not sure how long they have been here.”_ ** _He admitted._ **_“My theory is that they could be a side-effect of the CORE’s creation - a long time ago.”_ **

_He shook his head._ **_“Upon its initial creation, I had no idea they were around. But I myself began to see them… not long after my initial experiments with stabilising the CORE element.”_ **

_The doctor looked out the reinforced window that overlooked the CORE itself. Sans followed his gaze, realisation dawning._

_“… you were caught up in an explosion too, doc?” He asked._

**_“I wrote it down.”_ ** _Gaster said with a half-smile, before sighing._ **_“It was a long recovery process. I did not fully recover until well after a year had passed.”_ ** _He frowned._ **_“By then, I was aware of the presence of rifts - and had begun to research them, myself.”_ **

_Sans sipped his soda, looking up at the doctor in thought. “did people think you were crazy?” He looked around again. “i mean… if other people can’t see the rifts…”_

_Gaster chuckled._ **_“Val was very patient with my claims, and chose to assist me. I found ways to indicate where rifts were with other means of machinery and instruments.”_ ** _He smiled fondly._ **_“After months of research, we eventually discovered that these rifts were all linked together.”_ **

_Sans sat up straight. “linked together?” He frowned. “like… a network?”_

**_“Networks upon networks.”_ ** _Gaster’s sockets were lighting up in excitement._ **_“Some were complex, others were localised and simple - all branching together. It was a huge undertaking to map them out.”_ ** _He summoned his extra hands, linking them together as if to demonstrate._

 _He paused, dismissing them._ **_“We hoped that one perhaps led out past the Barrier. However… we mapped out every single rift we found in the Underground. Not one branched out past the network we knew.”_ **

_The doctor sighed._ **_“It remains to be seen if there are any more rifts above ground. However, if there are - they are not connected to the Underground Nexus.”_ ** _He paused._ **_“Val and I searched very hard for that possibility before we gave up on the project.”_ **

_Sans looked up at him, startled. “so, wait - have you stepped into them too, doc? the rifts, i mean.”_

_Gaster paused._

**_“There was an attempt.”_ ** _He said, placing his mug down._ **_“I foolishly reached into one with both hands, when I first discovered my abilities. If they were linked together, as we’d discovered - surely I would be able to traverse them. Or so I believed.”_ **

_He studied his hands, tracing the gaping holes in his palms._ **_“It was not my proudest moment. The rifts ultimately repelled me before any real damage could be done. It appeared monsters could not interact well with them. Val and I chose to stick with our instruments from then on.”_ **

_Sans swallowed. “oh…”_

**_“When you fell into the rip, I feared you would be destroyed.”_ ** _Gaster said, his gaze lowering._ **_“However - the rifts did not repel you to begin with… and with our old research in mind, I hoped for a better possibility.”_ **

_He smiled at the young skeleton._ **_“Thankfully, I happened to be correct. You had reappeared in this dimension, unscathed - though somewhere else.”_ **

_Sans frowned. “in that case, why don’t i look like swiss cheese right now?” He paused, glancing at Gaster’s hands. “n-no offense, doc.”_

_The older skeleton chuckled, picking up his mug again. He stared into his reflection in the coffee._

**_“… I surmise the CORE element has manifested very differently within our magical abilities.”_ ** _Gaster said, thoughtfully._ **_“Our physiology is similar - we are both skeletons, after all. However, our magic abilities are quite different.”_ **

_He paused._ **_“I can clearly see each tear. I can sense when one is unstable and dangerous - a necessity for experiments regarding the CORE.”_ ** _He paused._ **_“You can do more. You are able to travel between them with ease.”_ **

_Sans raised his eyebrows. “so… how come i didn’t fall into one earlier today?” He frowned. “they’re all over the place. i’m pretty sure i’ve run into a few without even noticing.”_

_Gaster shook his head._ **_“Interacting with these tears seems to be directly connected to being able to view them.”_ ** _He explained._ **_“We cannot see them now - our magic is not active at the moment. In turn, I don’t believe you can step into them when we are not actively seeking them out.”_ **

_Sans stared down into his soda._

_A network of spacetime rifts. Ultimately… kinda useless to the population of the Underground. Unless they were exposed to CORE energy like he was - and he didn’t wish that experience on anybody._

_“… i’m sorry finding a way past the barrier didn’t work out, doc.” He said._

_Gaster shook his head._ **_“It was a good endeavour while it lasted. And we learned much from it.”_ ** _He sighed._ **_“But some things are not meant to be seen through to completion.”_ **

_...Seen through to completion?_

_The image of a glowing, white ring popped up in Sans’ mind. He blinked._

_He thought of the strange skull that he’d seen in the depths of the facility. He thought of the wires and tubes that suspended it in midair._

_“… hey, doc?”_

_He thought about its gnarled and spiked appearance. He remembered the white ring in its eye socket staring directly at him._

_“ what was that thing down there? the thing that uh… nearly fried me?”_

_Gaster’s eyes widened in recollection._ **_“That… that is…”_ **

_Sans noticed that he suddenly looked very tired._

**_“I apologise for its behaviour.”_ ** _Gaster sighed._ **_“It was sealed away for a reason. Thankfully, you encountered it in a depowered state. It cannot do much real harm.”_ **

_Sans blinked. Depowered? Like a machine?_

_“… is it okay in there?” He found himself asking. “it… it looked alive.”_

_Gaster shook his head._ **_“…I understand your concern, but it isn’t sentient. And it’s placated in a space like that.”_ ** _He sighed._ **_“It reacts very badly to outside stimuli, unless I accompany it at all times.”_ **

_Sans recalled the moment Gaster had placed his hand on it. It had been placated by the doctor’s interference almost instantly._

_He frowned._

_“… what is it?”_

_The doctor paused._ **_“…It’s something very old.”_ ** _He said, his gaze becoming distant._ **_“I… created it a long time ago. Back when everyone was still gung-ho about the war against humanity.”_ **

_Sans stared back at him, raising an eyebrow. Gaster seemed a little lost in thought._  
****

**_“… it wasn’t long after His Majesty’s declaration, I believe.”_ ** _He said, as if to remind himself._  
****

_The smaller skeleton blinked in surprise, suddenly feeling a little cold._

_“… it’s a weapon?”_

_Gaster jerked, as if startled out of his own thoughts. He looked over at Sans, apologetically._  
****

**_“That project was shelved long ago. Arsenal would not help the Underground back then. It certainly will not, now. So for now, it sits in there.”_ ** _He glanced out at the CORE._ **_“My time and energy was better spent elsewhere.”_ **

_Sans raised his eyebrow. He was having a hard time picturing Gaster as some kind of weapons manufacturer. But, well, he never pictured Old Man Gerson as a war veteran, either._  
****

_He thought a moment. The skull itself seemed like some kind of organic creation. Some kind of engineering of magic and bone. It was like some kind of… arcane science._

_He made a face. They’d never covered that in the manual._

_“well… i’m not going back there anytime soon, doc.” He slumped on the table. “you can count on that. cool space-y powers or otherwise.”_

_Gaster gained a stern expression._ **_“I’d currently advise against using the rifts for now, Sans.”_ ** _He glanced to the side._ **_“This is still incredibly new territory. Until we know that this isn’t affecting you adversely, I am against it.”_ **

_Sans blinked. “got it, doc.”_

_He understood Gaster’s concern. Sans had caused the Royal Science team quite a few scares, lately. He frowned._

_“i don’t mean to be a problem.”_

**_“You are not.”_ ** _The doctor said, with a chuckle._ **_“You do seem to have a strange kind of luck, however.”_ **

_Sans sniggered. “got that right.”_

_Gaster leaned back, suddenly thoughtful._ **_“I… would also advise against telling others of your condition for now.”_ ** _He sighed._ **_“At least until we have a better understanding of your capabilities and your status. Though it may be tempting to do so - ”_ **

_“not really.” Sans interrupted. He didn’t feel like being questioned on stuff like this by complete strangers. This was a strange ability, one with the potential for security risk. Not like he’d ever exploit that._

_And as much as he wanted to tell Papyrus, his little brother would be quick to blab about it. And likely be swarmed with questions about it, too…_

_Sans cringed. No, he’d keep this to himself and the team._

_But with that said…_

_“… you think i could try again?” He asked. “i mean… with supervision, doc. monitoring. the whole nine yards.”_

_Sans raised an eyebrow. “i mean, i guess i could step that distance now if i really wanted to…”_

_Gaster paused. Then, he sighed._

**_“We shall arrange something, once we are sure there are no more ill effects from this incident.”_ ** _He rubbed his temple._ **_“I wouldn’t try getting used to the idea. This is still very, very new territory, with many potential consequences. You should not treat it as a mere tool.”_ **

_Sans shrugged. “c’mon, doc. someone jumping through rifts in space-time?”_

_He grinned. “how could anyone get used to_ **_that?_ ** _”_

 

 

* * *

 

_A buzz. A crackle._

_The snow and woods before Sans suddenly became a clean, white-tiled corridor. The quiet buzzing of rifts subsided as he deactivated his eye, glancing around to see if he’d accidentally startled anyone._

_The coast was clear, and Sans let himself lean against the wall for a moment, a little woozy. His eye socket stung briefly, like it usually did when he came to work._

_Thankfully, the dizziness that used to plague him for several minutes after a jump was now starting to subside within seconds._

_He grinned, glancing over his shoulder to observe the rift he’d just stepped through._

_He was really getting used to this._

_It had been about two months since Sans had first fallen into a rip in spacetime. After constant monitoring, ‘jumping’ with permission, and general certainty of his health, he’d become steadily familiar with the process - learning more and more about the strange phenomenon._

_After all, the idea of getting from place to place in seconds was pretty dang cool._

_When it became clear that Sans was keen to begin using rifts unsupervised, Gaster and Val had picked up on his enthusiasm and intervened._

_Rather than entirely restrict him however, they’d uncovered their old notes that mapped out the Underground Nexus - allowing the younger skeleton to properly see where he was going. He studied it every night, soon after he’d put Papyrus to bed._

_Some rifts were crossed out in red. They either led to dangerous areas, or were located in strictly forbidden rooms in the facility. Sans wasn’t surprised - there were some parts of the Facility that were strictly off-limits, after all._

_The younger skeleton had sworn to never use those - he respected the doctor’s wishes after all, and wanted to keep working here, to boot. Not to mention, after his encounter with the strange skull weapon, he was in no rush to explore the locked rooms._

_(Regardless, both Sprig and Owel had firmly reminded the young skeleton that there was always security footage to look back on should Sans feel like exploring. Message received.)_

_Sans had started calling the space-time rifts ‘shortcuts’ one day, because really, that’s what they’d become to him. Once Sans stepped through one, he could pop out of any other of his choice._

_He was becoming super handy for fetching stuff for the science team in general. It was sort of the least he could do - they’d taught him a lot, looked after him. It may have been rough - and on one occasion, life-threatening work - but he honestly couldn’t imagine doing anything else._

_Sans was grateful. This just happened to be an awesome way of expressing it._

_He’d approached the main lab when he suddenly heard a bustle of voices and rushing about. Confused, he hurried to the room’s entrance._

_“Sorry!”_

_Sans stumbled back, Reno whipping past him and dashing down the corridor without so much as a glance. Confused, Sans turned to look at the room’s interior._

_Val was hovering at the controls as usual, though had a new intensity to their work. Gaster was talking rapidly on the landline phone, rubbing at his skull. Sprig and Owel weren’t present. Their was an odd kind of tension in the air._

_Sans blinked. They hadn’t even had their briefing yet. What was everyone so worked up about?_

**_“Sans! There you are.”_ ** _Gaster stood up straight, hand over the receiver._ **_“Talk to Val. This is an emergency.”_ **

_Before the younger skeleton could respond, Gaster’s attention was taken by the phone call once more._

_Sans walked over to Val. “what’s going on?”_

_Val glanced over to the doctor first, then back at young skeleton. “It figures he would forget the specifics at a time like this.”_

_Their gaze hardened in a manner Sans had never seen, before. “Another human has appeared in the Underground.”_

_Sans froze. “a-already?”_

_Human incidents usually took place with years between them. It had only been six months since the previous human had fallen into the Underground - and captured, taken to the king._

_The younger skeleton swallowed. Judging by the way everyone was acting, the human that had arrived today was one of a very different nature._

**_“Keep the facility in lockdown.”_ ** _Gaster was speaking rapidly into the phone. He looked tired._ **_“We’ve offered to give the local monsters shelter until the danger passes - they should enter via the B3 entrance.”_ **  
****

_He paused._ **_“I know it’s a trip - but consider the route the human is heading. Please trust me on this. This is the safest alternative.”_ **  
****

_Gaster hung up with a sigh. Val stared at him for a moment, before he turned back to Sans._

_“… is snowdin okay?” The skeleton asked, his eye sockets dimming completely. He’d left the town twenty minutes ago. How quickly had the human progressed?_

_“They were just given the order to evacuate.” Val said. “They are under heavy guard. Papyrus should be safe.”_

_Sans shook his head. “i gotta jump back there.” He said, wide-eyed. “pap might - ”_

_“I assure you, he will be safe.” Val said, gently. “The best of the Royal Guard are intercepting the human as we speak. You may encounter the human alone, should you choose to jump back there now.”_

_The skeleton glanced at the landline, unconvinced. Val followed his gaze._

_“You will not be able to contact him now. I suggest you head on down to the security console with Sprig.” They said, quietly. “It’s the centre of information - you will be able to see what’s happening from there.”_

_Sans nodded, resigned. The light returned to his eye sockets. “… okay.”_

_Val turned back to the controls. “You should be safe th  e    r        e      -_

 

 

* * *

 

 

_-    S      a   n s walked over to Val. “what’s going on?”_

_Val glanced over to the doctor first, then back at young skeleton. “It figures he would forget the specifics at a time like this.”_

_Their gaze hardened in a manner Sans had never seen, before. “Another human has appeared in the Underground.”_

_Sans blinked. “… already?”_

_…Somehow, he wasn’t that surprised._

**_“Oh, for…”_ **

_Sans and Val turned to Gaster, who was rubbing at his skull as if in pain. He was still on the phone._  
****

**_“No, nothing. My apologies.”_ ** _The doctor regained his composure with a deep breath. He looked tired, almost a little impatient._

 **_“Keep the facility in lockdown.”_ ** _He continued._ **_“We’ve offered to give the local monsters shelter until the danger passes -  they should enter via the B3 entrance. And yes, I know it’s a trip. Please trust me when I say this is the safest alternative.”_ **  
****

_Gaster hung up with a sigh. Val stared at him for a moment, before he turned back to Sans._

_“… snowdin.” Sans muttered, eye sockets going dark. “is the royal guard there? is papyrus_ **_safe?_ ** _”_

_He saw Gaster suddenly become rigid out of the corner of his eye._

_“He should very well be.” Val reassured him. “I understand your concern, but please do not consider jumping back over there. If the human catches you alone…”_

_Sans shook his head. “y-yeah.”_

_He glanced at the landline for a few moments, considering his options. Papyrus probably wasn’t at home, right now. His best option to check on his status was probably…_

_“… i gotta get to the security console.” Sans said. “sprig’s down there already, right?”_

_There was a pause._

**_“…How did you know Sprig was the one on security duty?”_ **

_Sans looked over at the doctor. “uh…”_  
****

_He blinked. “… i don’t know. i just had a feeling.”_

_Weird. Nobody had told him. At least… he was pretty sure nobody had. He just… vaguely knew?_

_Sans shook his head. Whatever. That wasn’t important, now._

_“i gotta get down there. seeya doc.”_

_He turned to dash out of the room, activating his eye to find the quickest shortcut to the security room. He’d probably give Sprig a heart attack, but he needed to know for sure that his brother was safe._

_“Doctor?”_

_Val’s voice sounded concerned. As he ran, Sans glanced over his shoulder briefly at Gaster, just as he left the room._

_He was surprised to see a look of sheer horror on the doctor’s face._


	16. A Trade

The sound of clicking, scratching and clacking echoed through the halls.

His surroundings blurred with his velocity - a mess of darkened cyan steel illuminated by the flickering violet of the CORE. His entire body felt limp - heavy and weightless all at the same time.

Hands grasped at the walls, floor and ceiling as he skittered forward. Some gained purchase flat on the surfaces.

Others grasped at door frames and clawed at grooves. As if to slow his progress.

His target was getting away. She was nothing if not predictable in her direction. She had gained a preference for the burned and twisted doors that he’d blasted away upon entering the facility. A likely strategy. He’d marked his exits in his impatience, and all she had to do was follow the path.

Even when she darted out of sight, he could sense the location of his tool. It was faint - but it was there.

The violet light in Gaster’s eye sockets shrank into pinpricks.

He could barely focus, however. He wanted to chase after them. Wanted to move forward. His arms and legs hung limply in the air.

But... the abominations sticking out of his back seemed to be propelling him froward without his consent.

Some were loose, being dragged a little in their efforts. Some were firmly pulling forwards. Some were focused on keeping stable against the surfaces - keeping his feet firmly suspended off the floor.

A hand released one of the walls as he turned another corner, scratching at his temple in thought. His initial thought was to veer away from it.

However, his head was suddenly beyond his control. His expression, formerly twisted into a snarl, became placid once more.

_NO BLASTERS, FOR NOW. STRUCTURE MAY BE GROWING UNSTABLE WITH THE CORE’S ENERGIES. KEEP FOLLOWING HER._

The words spilled out of his mouth, unbidden, and that infuriated Gaster even more.

He continued to claw forward, pushing to change his expression to its rightful anger - because he was _not_ calm. He was _not_ placid. _It was not him who was speaking!_

His expression changed once more - though again, he wasn’t satisfied with the result.

An amused smile had appeared upon his features, and his ‘normal’ arms crossed before him as he was pulled along.

 **THIS TRULY IS FASCINATING.** His voice said. **DESTABILISATION SEEMS TO BE IN EFFECT - AND YET, YOU’RE STRONG ENOUGH TO STILL IN MOTION.** His head turned to observe his hands, with an interest that didn’t seem to come from him at all.

**YOU’RE HEADING INTO UNEXPLORED TERRITORY ON THIS FRONT. THINGS DON’T APPEAR TO BE HAPPENING AS YOU PLANNED.**

Gaster turned his head away from the hands clawing at the walls. He turned a corner, spotting the captain disappearing around the next. He glimpsed the smaller skeleton. Sans’ body remained as limp as a ragdoll, seemingly unconscious and grasped under the woman’s arm.

He snarled.

No. Things weren’t happening according to plan.

He’d become _complete_. But his connection to the void was still there, and becoming increasingly volatile. It wasn’t letting him go.

The anchor was meant to be a hold on _this_ realm - not a stubborn grasp upon the other!

In spit of his rage, Gaster felt his expression drop into one of sadness.

A SMALL PART OF YOU REMAINS IRREVOCABLY CONNECTED TO THE VOID. He said, observant. AN UNMOVABLE OBJECT HAS MET AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SAID OBJECT BEGINS TO FALL APART UNDER SUCH STRAIN…?

Finally, almost with great relief, he felt his face scrunch up into the snarl that he’d intended. No more of this nonsense. These voices weren’t making sense.

…or perhaps they simply weren’t telling him what he wanted to hear.

 ** _IT. CAN’T. BE DOING THAT._** Gaster uttered through gritted teeth. **_THE VOID CAN’T BE INFLUENCING ME. I AM COMPLETE_** ** _!_**

An infuriating laugh bubbled out of him, entirely without his consent.

 **YOU'D LIKE TO THINK SO.** His face stretched into a wide grin. 

Gaster’s eye sockets grew dark.

**YOU TRADED PIECE AFTER PIECE OF YOUR CONNECTION TO THE VOID. FOR EACH PIECE OF YOUR SOUL IN EXCHANGE. YOU KNOW THIS.**

His smile grew manic.

Strained.

**_… SHUT UP._ **

His smile became genuine once more. A calm chuckle resonated throughout the hall as he continued to speed through the facility, his fingers clicking against the tiles.

**BE REASONABLE. THE VOID IS ONLY REPLACING WHAT YOU'RE -**

Something white flew in fromhis left.

A hand, formerly keeping purchase on the wall, had slammed onto his eyesocket.  

**_SHUT UP._ **

Another two hands removed themselves from the walls, to plant themselves hard on the side of his face and the top of his skull. They grasped as tightly as they could.

His spiderlike pace down the hall began to grow awkward and unbalanced.

 **_SHUT_ ** **_UP._ **

Four more hands left the walls to close in on his skull, covering his remaining eye, _clawing_ at it. The remaining hands were too few to keep up a proper pace and he dropped into a shambling crawl, his legs dragging against the ground.

**_SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP -_ **

Gaster finally collapsed to the floor in a heap as all the remaining hands closed in on his head, several finally covering his mouth and muffling his words.

His head was completely enveloped in hands.

He was blind to what went on around him. For a moment, he did not care about how far ahead the royal captain had gone. He could not even hear her footsteps. The air around him roared in a surge of static.

Gaster drew in a shaking breath.

Slowly, carefully, all the hands released his skull, hovering inches away from its surface. As if hesitant.

 ** _You will listen to me._** Gaster said, his voice trembling. **_You will keep out of the way. You will do_** ** _exactly_** ** _as I say._**

There was a silence. A blissful, peaceful silence.

The arms that stuck out of his back slowly withdrew outwards from his skull.

They reached out towards the ground, planting themselves palm-first around him. They lifted him upwards and upright, so that his feet were hovering inches above the ground once more.

A moment passed, and they lowered him back down onto his feet.

He stood up straight. Yes. This was how it should be. _Him_ in control. _His_ vision, foremost. These other voices didn’t matter.

These other parts didn’t matter. Just _him._

Nothing else was necessary. Everything else simply got in the way.

Gaster still felt the weight of the arms sticking out of his back.

Perhaps… perhaps re-stabilising in this realm would not happen instantaneously, as he’d hoped. Perhaps it would happen over time.

That had to be it.

Gaster almost dared for his mouth to start moving against his will once more. But his jaw remained clenched shut.

To other matters. More _important_ matters.

He stared forward, down the hall. The captain was out of sight.

However, at the hall’s end was the charred exit to the main walkways of the CORE’s exterior.

Ah. Open air.

Strategic. Perhaps she thought herself clever - finding an open space to launch a proper offence.

Gaster tapped into the focus that he’d been lacking for the past hour.

Two Blasters were summoned to his sides. Normal and disposable, in the eyes of his current opponent.

They would do, for now. He just needed to be strategic.

If Sans' current state was any indication, he was starting to have a stronger influence on the younger skeleton. Even from afar. 

Gaster clenched his hands.

The voices were wrong.

... He _was_ here. He _was_ complete. Sans's deteriorating state was _proof._

And once he had him under control, things would flow far more easily. Once he had Papyrus, he would be completely equipped against his adversaries. He would have everyone off his back. He'd find a way to re-stabilise.

The doctor exhaled.

He was fine. It was _fine._

He would not return to the void. He would move forward.

The doctor had paid his dues _long_ before all this had happened. And Sans had spent too long being able to walk free. To walk on forward, without consequence.

A tradeoff was long overdue.

Gaster fixed onto his weapon’s magical signature, and strode forward. He felt the weight of the arms sticking out of his back once more, and quickened his pace.

It was only _fair_ …

 

 

* * *

 

_“… You’re sure about this, doc?”_

**_“I’m certain.”_ ** _Gaster said, firmly._ **_“The upper route of Waterfall is not secure. The human is taking their time in that area - I surmise they are searching for something.”_ **

_It was early in the morning. The lights of the CORE facility were dim and red, in emergency standby mode. Security was heightened in the building. The orange and blue lasers of the facility were activated._

_Hopefully, nobody had told the human how blue attacks worked._

_Gaster currently leaned against the wall of his office, a black landline phone grasped in his hand. The spiral phone cord was taut, almost causing the rest of the phone to slide off of his desk._

_Sprig was silent on the other end, as if processing the information._

_“… thought the cameras for Waterfall were busted…” The doctor heard him mutter quietly to himself._

_Gaster’s expression didn’t change._

_There was another pause, before Sprig sighed, the receiver picking up static._

_“If you say so, doc.” He replied, and Gaster could hear the impatience in his tone. “I’ll use the Echo flower fields.”_

_The doctor sighed, relieved. “_ **_Thank you, my friend. I apologise for the inconvenience - ”_ **

_“Hey, uh… don’t.” Sprig’s tone had changed. “You’re looking out for me, and I appreciate it.” He paused. “I’ll be at work in a couple hours. Make sure everyone else is okay, alright? Snowdin may be out of trouble, but who knows if the human will backtrack?”_

_Gaster paused._ **_“I will make certain. Stay safe, Sprig.”_ **

_“Yeah. You too, doc.”_

_Sprig hung up, and Gaster moved forward to his desk, placing the phone back on the receiver. However, upon releasing it, his hand remained hovering over the machine._

_He stood still for several moments, staring at the phone in an almost accusatory manner._

_15… 16… 17…_

_“…you know, if the landline phone ain’t working doc, maybe it’s time to_ **_cell_ ** _it.”_

_Gaster’s expression dropped, and he glanced over at his office doorway._

_Val and Sans stood there. The young skeleton had a clipboard tucked under one arm, and was staring at him with a brow raised. The serpentine monster appeared as calm and as nonchalant as ever._

**_“You know cellphone signals don’t work well in the CORE facility, Sans.”_ ** _Gaster sighed with a half-smile. He straightened, regaining his composure._ **_“Sprig will be late, today.”_ **

_Sans’ grin fell. The younger skeleton seemed to be on edge a little more, nowadays._

_“is he okay?”_

_“The human is still at large in Waterfall.” Val muttered, glancing up at Gaster. “Is it wise for him to be coming in at all?”_

_The doctor sighed._ **_“Not in the slightest. But he’s set on making his way to Hotland, no matter what I say.”_ ** _He glanced over at his desk, summoning a floating hand to pick up a still-steaming coffee mug._ **_“He’s taking a safer route.”_ **

_Val’s expression did not change. But Gaster sensed a certain intensity in their gaze._

_Sans frowned. “says something about his dedication if he’s coming to work with the underground going crazy.”_

_The doctor chuckled, quietly._

_He’d noted that Sans had been sneaking teleports back to Snowdin during breaks to ensure Papyrus’ safety. Even when the human was not reported to be anywhere close to the area, Owel and Reno had reported security footage in Snowdin with Sans hurrying through the town to Snowed Inn._

**_“Some monsters need some kind of order for the chaos. Myself included.”_ ** _Gaster said, with a smile._

 _He paused._ **_“Though at times, I’m not entirely certain what goes through Sprig’s head.”_ **

_Sans shrugged, the smile returning to his features. “whatever you say, doc.” He held out the clipboard, Gaster approaching while sipping his coffee. “got some results for core coolant chemistry. owel’s got a few promisin’ results from yesterday.”_

_The doctor took the clipboard, studying it carefully._ **_“We should still be wary of the quantity.”_ ** _He said, slowly._ **_“Perhaps we need an alternate method of administering the formula to the CORE element.”_ **

_He sighed._ **_“Besides… we don’t want a repeat of las t   t     i       m          e            -_ **

 

* * *

 

_\-          h         u      m    a n is still at large in Waterfall.” Val muttered, glancing up at Gaster. “Is it wise for him to be coming in at all?”_

_Gaster blinked, disoriented._

_Ah._

**_“…I-I apologise. Could you repeat that?”_ **

_The serpentine monster blinked at him, tilting their head. The doctor stared back, maintaining his composure - but feeling mildly unnerved at the knowing look that Val gave him._

_Before they could open their mouth, however, Sans interrupted._

_“i guess sprig’s set on comin’ into work, no matter what?” He asked, shrugging and glancing down at the office tiles. “it’s kinda beyond me, especially with the human out there.”_

_There was a silence._

_Gaster turned to him, studying his expression carefully._

_The younger skeleton seemed a little distant. Thoughtful, more than anything. No distress, no fear._

_His eyesockets narrowed._

_But still…_

_…worryingly off-script._

_Drawing in a steadying breath, he held out a hand._

**_“May I see those results?”_ **

_Sans jolted out of his thoughts, suddenly startled back to reality._

_“uh - sorry, doc.” He obliged, Gaster taking them with a smile._

_The doctor knew the results already - he’d read them mere seconds ago._

_…But he still had a role to play._

**_“Check to see if Owel requires assistance in recreating solutions Sigma and Zeta.”_ ** _He said, skimming over the results once more to be sure._ **_“I surmise there’s something you can contribute on that front.”_ **

_Sans nodded. “sure thing, doc!”_

_His eye socket activated, alternating between its telltale blue and yellow once more. Gaster tried not to let his face fall at the sight of it._

_“mind if i take this rift in your office?” He pointed to the side of Gaster’s desk. “it drops me off pretty close to the main hall.”_

_The doctor didn’t activate his own eye, but he did glance at the empty space._ **_“You may use it. Do not make a habit of it.”_ ** _He added, raising a brow._

 _Sans grinned back at him, nervously. “yeah, i gotcha. this one’s crossed out on the map you guys gave me.” He scratched his head. “bit of a_ **_rifty_ ** _business, all this jumping.”_

_With that, he strode into the space and vanished on the spot._

_Gaster heard his office door creak closed behind him. He turned to see Val approaching his desk, their expression becoming stern._

_“Something is bothering you.” They said, quietly._

_The doctor’s composure remained. Cautiously, he activated his eye, observing the nearby rifts in silence._

_No signs of instability. No signs of use, either - Sans was out of earshot._

_He relaxed, his expression giving way to exhaustion._

_For now, it was safe to talk._

_Val looked down at his desk, their eyes drawn to one of the folder tabs upon it. Gaster sauntered over to his chair and sat down with his elbows upon the desktop. His fingers rubbed his temples, as he saw Val suddenly withdraw from his desk out of the corner of his vision._

_“…How many times have I come into this room, this morning?” The serpentine monster asked, a hint of surprise in their tone._

_Gaster looked up at them with a small, but reassuring smile._

**_“Only twice, old friend.”_ **

_The folder tab was dashed with many roman numeral strikes - to the point where they almost didn’t quite fit. Blinking, Gaster reached over and added a couple more dashes, one marking a strike through four (and a third to replace the one that had disappeared earlier this morning)._

**_“They’ve been very frequent.”_ ** _The doctor said, thoughtfully._ **_“Though they appear to be happening in bursts.”_ ** _He paused._ **_“The difference is a matter of seconds. The longest so far has only been several minutes.”_ **

_There was a silence._

_“That must be frustrating.” Val sighed._

**_“It’s a little less demoralising than hours lost.”_ ** _Gaster shook his head with a chuckle._ **_“I do not have to redo many phone calls or tests, for one. But I do have to stay on my toes.”_ **

_There was a silence. The doctor ripped another folder tab out of one of his newer folders and placed it below the crowded one._

**_“Though, this particular human does seem to be jumping back to less-than-ideal circumstances.”_ ** _Gaster added._ **_“I’ve seen them appearing frustrated on the security footage.”_ **

_Val tilted their head. “…You believe these… ‘jumps’ are not intentional on their part?”_

_They glanced aside. “The previous humans appeared to have that control, did they not?”_

_The doctor gave a heavy sigh._

_It had been a late night in the facility several years ago when Val had discovered Gaster at his office, the papers on his desk defaced by a maddened scrawl._

_He’d taken the clock off of his wall, jumping every time it reappeared above his cabinet. He’d drawn the same blueprint over and over for the past few hours - each rendition more clumsy and messy than the last, fuelled by the frustration of the blue paper suddenly becoming blank before his very eyes._

_He’d been at his limit. He’d very nearly been fired for his erratic behaviour._

_Val, though initially skeptical, had proven to be a good listener. And their belief in his claims were solidified when the fourth human fell into the Underground - when from their perspective, their old friend had accurately predicted several things in frightening succession._

_Gaster had a feeling that the rest of his crew were mildly aware of his capabilities. But Val the only one who explicitly knew the situation._

_Every time a human fell into the Underground…_

_…the flow of time became an incredibly strange thing to Dr W.D. Gaster._

_He ultimately didn’t know the exact cause. He had nothing but theories - strongly supported theories, but ultimately theories nonetheless._

_He believed that the CORE had a role to play in it. The CORE was the closest explanation for the presence of the rifts, as well._

_Both space and time had become…_ **_strange_ ** _upon its development, soon after the second human had fallen into the Underground. Its energies leaked throughout the entire area - benign outside of of the CORE itself. A younger Gaster had thought little of it._

_The doctor had helped the CORE manifest, made it grow. It had been for the comfort of the Underground, and for monsterkind’s own advances…_

_But then, a second factor was introduced. Gaster's own accident with experimenting on the CORE had left him bedridden for a year. And alongside discovering the rift network, something else befell the doctor._

_The third human fell into the Underground, and his world became absolute chaos. From Gaster’s perspective, everything began to repeat._

_Everyone else was oblivious to the same few hours being repeated, over and over. Monsters performed the same routines, the same actions._

_A distressed Gaster had been on surveillance duty when he’d a breakthrough observing the camera feed._

_Everything was predictable…_

_… except for the_ **_human_ ** _._

_Desperately seeking an answer, he’d asked the King’s permission to study the first few human SOULs after the human was finally captured._

_He’d had trouble. The most recently-obtained SOUL was still capable of jumping back to before their capture, though barely. He’d haphazardly had to create a way to completely cut off the SOUL’s interaction with the energies of the outside world without destroying it._

_Gaster had created twelve different prototype SOUL containers with different magical properties before time flowed normally for him again at last. He’d let himself sleep deeply that night, before finally analysing the SOUL energy as best he could._

_The SOUL had been a deep blue (an honourable and virtuous colour). But it was brimming with something especially prevalent in humans - the reason why human SOULs could continue to exist after death._

_Determination._

_The CORE had allowed both space and time to become malleable. And time itself could act to the whim of a being with a powerful SOUL._

_It was humanity’s tool. To escape death. To take_ **_back_ ** _time._

_(Gaster frowned. For a race so determined, humanity certainly appeared to second-guess their choices quite a lot.)_

**_“This human_ ** **_is_ ** **_in control of their time jumps.”_ ** _Gaster said, looking up at Val._ **_“I simply believe this human doesn’t seem to possess enough determination to jump back in time very_ ** **_far_ ** **_. Mere minutes at the very most.”_ **

_Val tilted their head. “The previous human was capable of hours, were they not?”_

_Gaster sighed, heavily. That… had been a nightmare. So many things to re-test. So many reports to rewrite (He’d considered putting a pillow on the spot in the hallway where Reno kept tripping and falling forward onto his face)._

_Though - that’s what resets had eventually become to him. Hindrances. Inconveniences._

_He’d accepted it. It was the way things were for him now, with the CORE element inside him._

_With a human in the Underground, at least._

_He was unsure on whether this phenomenon took place on the surface. It surely could not - human determination would rip apart the spacetime continuum in seconds if every single being had the ability to turn time on its head._

_Upon mapping out the Underground Nexus of rifts with Val, the thought occurred to Gaster that these space-time activities were limited to the Underground alone - or at least within the vicinity of the CORE. It was a mere theory at this point - one that he hoped didn’t completely hold water._

_The idea that he’d inadvertently created a method for humans to control time haunted him every time one fell into the Underground._

_Their capabilities were limited. It was a mess of hours that they could influence at a maximum._

_Regardless…_

**_“…I’d hate to encounter a human with enough determination to manipulate time_ ** **_exactly_ ** **_as they see fit.”_ ** _He sighed._

_The serpentine monster glanced out the window. “To what extent?”_

**_“I hope to never find out.”_ ** _Gaster said, flatly._

_There was another silence. The CORE crackled quietly in the main chamber, colours churning and swirling upon the enormous orb’s surface._

_“…Something else is bothering you.” Val observed._

_The doctor rested his chin upon the back of his hands. His eye sockets slid closed._

_“It’s true this human is aggressive, but we have had worse ones to fall down in the past.” His co-worker slithered around his desk, looking out at the main chamber._

_Gaster swivelled on his chair to face them, his own gaze drifting out the window._

_He drew in a breath._

**_“I… have some concerns about the CORE element.”_ **

_The serpentine monster twisted their head around to face him side-on. “… For yourself? Or for Sans?” Their eyes narrowed in thought. “We checked you both recently… there is no sign of instability, doctor.”_

_The doctor rose to his feet, quickly activating his eye sockets to glimpse the rifts around him. There was no sign of the smaller skeleton, and he faced Val - his expression betraying his fear._

**_“Sans is showing awareness. Of the time jumps.”_ **

_There was a long silence._

_“You are certain?” Val said, softly. They sounded a little skeptical - this hadn’t been the first time Gaster had rambled about something improbable after all - and he knew that._

_Gaster turned to the CORE chamber, his expression reflected in the reinforced glass. His fearful gaze stared straight back._

**_“It appears he has some sort of recollection.”_ ** _He said, pointedly._ **_“His behaviour changes with each… shift in time.”_ **

_His eyes narrowed in thought._ **_“I have told you before. Your behaviour is constant, Val. Your tasks, your duties - you stick by them in the same manner each time. As do everyone else’s. Aside from myself and the human, of course.”_ **

_Gaster could see Val glance back at the folder tab in concern._

_“And Sans’ behaviour?” They inquired._

_The doctor sighed._ **_“It’s notably different.”_ **

_His eyes narrowed._ **_“He is an anomaly. He steps out of Sprig’s path, when he would have crashed into him the first time. He fills a second glass of water for Owel -  when she only asked for one the first timeline around.”_ ** _Gaster frowned._ **_“It is second nature to him. He doesn’t even seem… conscious of it.”_ **

_“… so is not a clear recollection.” Val said, thoughtfully. “It may not extend to anywhere past a mere awareness, my dear.”_

**_“We can’t_ ** **_know_ ** **_that!”_ ** _Gaster spun to face Val, his voice unusually panicked._ **_“We don’t know how the CORE element may further manifest!”_ **

_His eye sockets activated again, scanning his surroundings again for Sans’ presence._

**_“…What if he gets worse?"_**

_“His powers have already developed quite differently to yours, my dear.” Val said, softly._

_Gaster looked back at them, drawing in a shaking breath._

**_“That should be reassuring.”_ ** _He said._ **_“But it simply illustrates what a wildcard this magical energy_ ** **_is_ ** **_… This development occurred without warning. What_ ** **_else_** **_could?”_ **

_There was a brief silence._

_"It is new territory. I understand." Val said, quietly. "We're doing all we can to monitor both him, and you." They tilted their head. "Long-term... it seems the CORE energy doesn't seem to be affecting your health. And even if Sans does develop similar symptoms to you... could you not simply explain the situation?"_

_They straightened. "As you did to me?"_

_From the main chamber, the CORE gave a sudden crackle, and both scientists turned to face the mass of energy. The colours swirled and billowed across its surface, the stray energy arcs re-stabilising upon it._

**_"... There's too many variables."_** _Gaster said, quietly. **"I can't drag any of you into this chaos, too..."**_  

_There was a silence, as the doctor stared hard into his reflection. His eyes flickered their telltale green and violet briefly, and he heard the roar of the spacetime rifts for a moment._

_**“… What if there was a way to fix this?** **”** Gaster said, deactivating his eyesockets._

_Val slithered closer to him, wary._

_“You intend to change something you know little about.”_

_There was a pause, as Gaster’s eyes met his co-worker’s._

**_“That is how we spend our days, isn’t it?”_ **

_The serpentine monster paused, before a smile reappeared upon their features. They shook their head._

_“True enough.”_

_They regained their stern expression. “We’ll discuss this later, doctor. I understand your concern, but… let us hold out until the human SOUL is captured, at least.”_

_Gaster nodded, with a sigh._ **_“…Yes. You’re right.”_ **

_The most he could do for now was make sure everyone was safe from the immediate threat. He needed to keep an eye on the camera feed. He needed his usual routine._

**_“Keep some order to the chaos, and all that.”_ ** _Gaster repeated to himself._

_(Had he said that, this time around? He didn’t remember)_

_Val nodded. “…I will go back to monitoring the CORE. Will you be alright?”_

_The doctor nodded._ **_“I’ll be up shortly. I need a moment.”_ ** _He blinked._ **_“Or several, as the human may dictate.”_ **

_The serpentine monster nodded, slithering over to the office entrance. “Take all the time you need, old friend.” They said, with a smile._

_They tugged the door shut behind them with their tail, and Gaster sat back, crossing his arms._

_... It was time to focus on the here and now._

_Things that he could control._

_The human was currently in Waterfall. Reports showed them progressing through the labyrinthian marshes at a slow speed, certainly. It would perhaps be time to start preparing for the human's potential arrival in Hotland._

_He exhaled, deep in thought._

_Considering how dangerous the human was becoming, there was the possibility that the CORE facility would need to be entirely locked down or even evacuated for the Royal Guard to stake out within the building. He would need to be in contact with the King._

_Gaster's thoughts drifted back to the earlier conversation he'd had with Val._

_Back to what he couldn't definitively control._

_There was a chance Sans could begin to clearly recall resets. At the frequency the human was resetting, it would be potentially incredibly jarring._

_But what if he knew what was going on?_

_Gaster thought hard._  

_If he did tell Sans about all this, what would happen?_

 

_He frowned._

 

_How could he possibly explain...?_

 

 

* * *

 

 

“To your left!”

There was a clatter of loose rocks. A sharp bark.

“Your _other_ left!”

There was a huff. A cracking of stone, and then the sounds of scraping, bony claws.

“Maybe try that ledge there?”

An inquisitive trill.

“The one that…” A pause. “I don’t know if you can see it from where you are, but it kind of looks like   Gyftrot’s face?”

There was a pause, and then an affirmative bark as Papyrus sprang upwards to the next ledge, small rocks clattering down from the deep purple cliff face.

Frisk lowered their hands from cupping around their mouth.

They were on the eighth attempt, now. Papyrus was getting steadily better at climbing - and notably more familiar with his new body. They could see his coordination develop every time he attempted to climb up the wall.

He’d had to learn quickly. He had no choice, if he wanted to land safely.

The beastly skeleton was currently 70 feet off the ground. He had a sturdy grip on the ledge below him, but both he and Frisk understood that there was a chance it could give way.

Tapping it a couple of times with his back legs to make sure it was sturdy, he sprang upwards towards the next ledge - one with a chunk of rock missing. He slammed his front claws into it, keeping himself steady, even with his back legs currently hanging in the air.

Frisk cringed. It was the same place where the rock had given way a few attempts ago - the one that had caused Papyrus to fall back and temporarily lose control from the impact.

The sound of cracking met the human’s ears, and they tensed. The rocks were indeed still quite loose, and Papyrus let out a sharp bark in surprise. He loosened his grip, sliding down from the unstable surface and slamming his back legs down against the wall - but it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to keep his grip for much longer.

Instead of properly falling, however - Papyrus glanced to a ledge to his side, and clambered onto it. Keeping up the velocity, he sprang down to a lower ledge, moving with gravity and making his way down the wall in leaps.

He landed at the bottom in a skid on all fours, shaking himself out as several small loose rocks clattered down from the cliff face (some landing on his back).

Frisk sighed in relief. Then, they straightened.

“You almost got it, that time!” They called, their hands cupped around their mouth. “Maybe you should jump to the right when you reach that ledge!”

Papyrus turned to them, trilling in confusion. The human pointed upwards.

“That one! The one that sorta looks like a Vulkin!”

The beastly skeleton turned back to the wall, growling in comprehension.

Frisk watched as the skeleton backed up again for his next attempt. The human clenched their fists, feeling a familiar sensation in their SOUL. A familiar energy thrummed within them.

They blinked in surprise.

… It had been a while. There hadn’t been many instances in this journey where Frisk had felt all that stable or confident.

But fact that Papyrus wasn’t giving up…

… It filled Frisk with _determi_ -

 

 

* * *

 

 

A loud crack sounded.

A buzzing hum filled the air.

Formerly focused on the top ledge of the wall, Papyrus tensed, suddenly seeing black particles materialise out of thin air before him.

He flinched back, wary - only to become startled when they whipped past him, aiming at a very different target.

There was a startled yell, and he spun around, panicked.

The thrumming energy had centred in on Frisk with a loud _zap_. The energy dissipated in a flash of red light, and the human crumpled to the ground with a cry, grasping at their chest.

Papyrus’ eye sockets grew wide and he immediately galloped over, lowering himself to the human’s level in a slide. He skidded to a stop inches before them.

_< FRISK?!>_

They were kneeling unsteadily on the rocky ground, grasping at the material over their chest. Their teeth were gritted in pain. He curled his long tail slightly around Frisk for good measure, unsure of what else to do.

_< FRISK, WHAT’S HAPPENED?!>_

His friend groaned, quietly.

“Ow… ”

They drew in a shaky breath, slowly allowing themself to sit down onto the ground. Their expression, though still screwed up in pain, began to change into one of confusion. They didn’t seem to be hurting so badly anymore, but the beastly skeleton wasn’t about to stop worrying quite yet.

 _< ARE YOU FEELING SICK?>  _He asked, crawling forward a little. _< ONCE WE GET OUT OF HERE - WE CAN HURRY BACK TO ALPHYS’ LAB VERY QUICKLY TO GET SOME FOOD IF YOU NEED IT!>  _His tail began tapping rhythmically beside the human.

He suddenly paused. _< THOUGH, I’M NOT SURE WE’LL HAVE THE TIME TO COOK INSTANT NOODLES. PERHAPS YOU CAN JUST EAT IT RAW?>_

The human shook their head abruptly as if to rid themselves of dizziness, before rising steadily to their feet.

They looked perplexed, mumbling to themself.

“… why didn’t it…?”

The skeleton remained crouching. This hadn’t been the first time he’d seen Frisk look so worried today - though he was starting to wonder if it was for a very different reason than before.

Those black and square particles - he was sure he’d seen them every time Gaster had shown up. Why on earth had they appeared around Frisk?

Why had they hurt the human like that?

 _< … WHAT _**_WAS_** _THAT? > _He asked with a sharp bark. Papyrus knew he couldn’t be understood right now, but it still felt nice to speak aloud. And Frisk seemed to be understanding the gist of his vocalizations, at least.

His friend glanced up at him, startled at the sound.

“I-I’m okay. I’m okay.” They held up their hands, reassuredly. “It’s nothing you need to - ”

They paused, as if suddenly aware of their phrasing. “… worry about…”

Frisk’s hands dropped to either side. They seemed deep in thought.

Papyrus’ heart sank.

Oh.

…It was another secret, he supposed.

He’d come to expect as such from Sans, but…

Papyrus suddenly shook his head, huffing. No! There was no need to dwell on that! His friends were totally allowed to keep secrets. Everyone had a privacy! People had a lot of things that they didn’t want to talk about, after all!

…But these recent events regarding his brother definitely added an element of concern. And a bit of frustration.

Papyrus’s head dropped a little, giving a quiet whine. He certainly hoped Frisk wasn’t hurting on the inside, as well.

He frowned. He mostly hoped Frisk wasn’t _also_ being pursued by a strange, otherworldly scientist spectre from their own mysterious past…

“Um.”

Papyrus looked back down at the human. They seemed to be contemplating something, though they didn’t look too happy about it.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry.” They looked up at him, pulling a bit of hair out of their face. “I… I should at least explain. Just a little.” They muttered - more to themself than to the beastly skeleton.

Papyrus stared at them. He dropped his head onto his forepaws, attentive. The human giggled a little at his expression, before resuming a more somber look.

“Just right then…I tried to _do_ something.” Frisk said, quietly. “It’s something that only I can do…I think. I mean, right now, at least?”

The human frowned, thoughtfully. They seemed to be having trouble with their phrasing.

“It’s…a _power_ I have.” They clarified, glancing aside. “I don’t know how to properly explain it. I’ve… I’ve had it ever since I came down to the Underground.”

The skeleton trilled, tilting his head. A power? A _secret_ human power?

 _< THAT SOUNDS PRETTY COOL TO ME, FRISK!> _He chirped. He’d always known there was something special about his human friend!

Frisk must have gotten the gist of his cheerful vocalizations, because they smiled back at him. Then, their gaze drifted downwards.

“It’s… kind of a weird power.” They looked up at him, suddenly thoughtful. “…It sorta happens… subconsciously? Every time I feel so _determined_ \- the power happens.” They scratched their head. “It… it happened a _lot_ when I was travelling through the Underground.”

Frisk smiled in recollection. “Playing through the leaves, seeing such a friendly town… even the mice!” They looked down at the rocky ground. “I guess it’s pretty weird when I put it like that, but… in those moments, I guess I felt like I could do anything. No matter how dangerous it got…”

They paused, their expression dropping a little. “Those moments… they really _helped_ me.”

Papyrus blinked, a little perplexed. The human shook their head.

“… just now, after you were about to try climbing again, I had that same feeling of determination.” Frisk smiled. “For the first time in a long time, it feels like. It’s been… really crazy, lately. I haven’t really had those moments.”

They suddenly frowned.

“But… the power that usually happens when I feel like that - it didn’t happen at _all_.”

Frisk was silent for a moment. “I-In fact, it really hurt.” They grasped at their chest again. “I’m… feeling fine, now - it was just a shock.”

They frowned. “But… It’s never happened before. Not like that, at least.”

Papyrus frowned. Oh.

 _< YOU LOST YOUR SECRET POWER, FRISK?> _He asked. That sounded terrible. And he certainly knew a thing or two about lost powers.

Papyrus had tried, but couldn’t even summon his bone attacks in this form - and he was quite certain his ability to perform BLUE attacks wasn’t working properly. Even though Frisk wasn’t specifying what their own power actually _was -_ they’d said it was a helpful power, at least. And to have that taken away sounded quite upsetting - not to mention, inconvenient!

But still… Frisk wasn’t trapped in some strange form that was stopping their abilities. Nor were they sick thanks to a glowing violet vial.

Papyrus blinked.

So… what _was_ stopping them from using their power?

“I’m not sure if my power’s gone.” Frisk continued suddenly, snapping him out of his thoughts. “I still feel determined. It’s definitely still there, it’s just…”

They looked around. “…something really doesn’t feel right.”

Papyrus crooned, quietly.

Now that Frisk mentioned it… the air certainly _did_ feel strange.

He’d dismissed it as the gloominess of Muffet’s Cavern at first (nobody enjoyed walking through here, after all). But after his failed attempts of changing back, the air had seemed notably… heavier.

It was the pressure on his bones, the humming in the background - the presence that locked him in this form. He could still feel something all around him, and he was unsure what.

Papyrus thought of the black particles that had appeared, before. He felt a small chill.

He wasn’t sure if Frisk felt all those things as well. But… perhaps this strange presence was affecting the young human, too?

He certainly hoped not.

“I’m sorry.” Frisk said, catching his attention. “That’s… that’s the gist of it.” They looked up at him, concerned. “I don’t want you to worry, but - I’m not sure how much more I can explain, right now…”

They frowned. “But I… don’t want to be as bad as Sans.”

There was a silence.

Frisk froze, suddenly realising what they’d said.

“U-um. No offense… I mean…”

Papyrus paused. Then he snorted, scooting forward and giving Frisk a quick nudge with his muzzle.

_< YOU’RE NOT EVEN CLOSE, FRISK. WHEN IT COMES TO DANCING AROUND SUBJECTS…>_

He brightened.

_< …TRULY, MY BROTHER IS A MASTER!>_

It was time to be frank. Sans had been especially cagey, about a multitude of things. Though Papyrus couldn’t really blame him on that front, these secrets were putting his brother in danger - and in turn, quite a few other people. His secret-keeping in this situation was indeed a problem.  

…Papyrus was _fairly_ sure Frisk’s secrets were not.

Frisk was affected by something - apparently starting from a few moments ago. But it _couldn’t_ be connected to whatever Sans had gone through all those years ago! Papyrus did privately wish that the human would explain a little more about this strange power. But even Frisk didn’t seem to know what was stopping it from working.

He tilted his head at the human.

Besides… judging by how _nervous_ Frisk looked, they didn’t look like they enjoyed discussing this power very much at all.

Papyrus recalled the confrontation between himself and his brother, at the top of Muffet’s Cavern.

… It must have taken a _lot_ to speak about that power to begin with.

Carefully, Papyrus rose to his feet. Frisk backed up, managing to shake off the previous mood.

“But… seriously, I’m alright.” They stood up tall. “I’ll let you know if I’m _not_ , okay?”

The beastly skeleton nodded firmly. If this power activated when Frisk was feeling very determined, then…

_< VERY WELL! NO MORE FEELING DETERMINED, OKAY FRISK?>_

He paused at the phrasing, blinking.

Wait…

 _< NO. _**_STAY_** _DETERMINED, OF COURSE! JUST… NOT PAINFULLY SO? > _He tilted his head. _< STAY 80 PERCENT DETERMINED. THAT SOUNDS APPROPRIATE!>_

Besides, there were other things to focus on. His attempts at getting out of here were getting closer and closer to success! He simply had to keep trying!

Frisk smiled up at him, before rushing to the side of the cavern, out of the path of his next attempt. Papyrus watched them go, thoughtfully.

He’d have to find a way to carry them up with him, once he was sure that he could stop falling backwards. He couldn’t carry them in his mouth, could he? (And he still felt a little uncertain about the idea of carrying them on the back of his neck, especially after last time.)

Slowly, he began to back up again, his eyes already beginning to scan the rocky wall for a new route.

He wondered if Undyne and Sans were doing well in their mission.

Papyrus hoped his brother would be more forthcoming with information around Undyne, at least. This didn’t seem like the kind of mission they could run into blindly.

…Secrets really _were_ difficult, Papyrus thought.

He knew people had a lot of good reasons to keep them. Sometimes to protect others, and sometimes to just feel safe.

Papyrus suddenly broke into a full charge, towards the rocky wall once more.

He was just… unsure if Sans could tell the difference, anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Setting up some ground rules. The function of SAVING probably differs in-game, but this is what I'm working with, and hopefully it's believable.
> 
> Thank you for your patience.)


	17. A Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't a proper update, but a reorganisation (and a new scene!) Updates will hopefully resume soon.

_Gaster slowly sauntered into his office._

_He counted his steps - counted down the seconds. He eyed the coffee mug in his grasp, his gaze half-lidded._

_He'd sipped it more times than he could count, and yet, it never emptied. The doctor was already getting quite tired of the taste._ _He gave a heavy sigh, setting the mug down at his desk._

_It had been a chaotic morning._

_The human had been resetting extra-frequently. To the doctor, it had felt like fifteen hours since the day had started - when to everyone else, it had been a mere three. It was getting to the point where the human had been leaping back every ten to fifteen minutes._

_The constant lurches in time had left the doctor very disoriented. Thankfully, Val had picked up on his dilemma and had taken over the doctor's duties as second-in-command, carefully ushering him towards his office. They'd thankfully only had to do it twice._

_The doctor slowly sat down at his desk._

_Thankfully, it appeared that there was a lull in the human's activities. He still remained on-edge, but it was nice to finally be sitting down after being stopped over and over on his way to his own office._

_Gaster slowly leaned back in his chair, his tired expression creased with a frown._

_... one of those attempts to travel down the hall had been a mad dash to the infirmary._

_His gaze dropped to his desk. To his left, there were several forms and reports - things to fill out in case of incident, injury or absence._

_He'd nearly had to fill one out, today. One of his work colleagues had been on the receiving end of a particularly awful acid burn, thanks to a chemistry mishap._

_It had been a combination of factors that had led to the incident. Lack of sleep. The pressures of looking out for human alerts._

_The doctor sighed._

_And thanks to his negligence, the victim had again been Sans._

_The younger skeleton had been in an enormous amount of pain. He'd been unable to speak - and Reno had had to provide constant healing magic to ensure the younger monster didn't start to deteriorate into dust._

_But then, suddenly, that was no longer a concern. Time again lurched backwards, before the injury had occurred. Before Sprig had bumped into the science bench._

_The doctor subconsciously summoned his extra hands, and they began rubbing at his temples._

_When the beaker of acid had fallen towards Sans, the skeleton had deftly stepped out of the way, this time around._

_He'd shown an awareness of the time shifts, yet again. It still seemed subconscious - he seemed oblivious to it. His awareness did not seem focused, it seemed instinctual._

 

_But how long would it stay that way?_

 

_There was a quiet knock at the door. Dismissing his hands, Gaster sat up straight in his chair. He was fairly certain he couldn't do anything about the dark circles beneath his eye sockets, however._

_**"Ah, Sans."** He nodded as the younger skeleton wandered in, closing the door behind him. **"How are you faring?"**_

_"heya, doc." His student nodded, glancing over his shoulder. "... sprig ain't doing so hot. i told him it was just an accident."_

_The doctor blinked._

**_"... The beaker from this morning?"_ **

_"yeah." Sans wandered over to the desk, sitting down at the opposite chair. "don't get why's he's so **blue.** nobody got hurt." He said, his smile a little halfhearted with concern._

_The doctor sighed. **"I suppose not."**_

_Gaster clearly remembered the smash of glass._ _Owel had remarked on the young skeleton's luck, as Sans had hopped backwards across the tiles and away from the beaker, eyesockets black in shock. Sprig had left the room sheepishly - agreeing to return after he'd become conscious enough to not be a work hazard. He'd seemed particularly hard on himself for putting Sans in danger._

_The older skeleton sighed, with a chuckle._

_The entire crew seemed to be adopting that outlook, as of late._

_"... anyway, what's up doc?" Sans interrupted his thoughts, blinking. "you said you wanted to see me?"_

_Gaster sat up straight._

_Right. To business._

_**"It's been a few weeks since we last checked your status with the CORE fragment energy."** He said, simply. **"I would like to inspect the energy output once more, if you don't mind."**_

_The younger skeleton sat up straight. "oh, yeah! sure."_

_With one of his extra hands appearing in midair, Gaster summoned the small lens tool from his inventory. His extra hand carried it to Sans' eyesocket, and the skeleton sat patiently still as the lens scanned the energy within it._

_The device beeped an affirmative, and Gaster's hand returned to its owner, dropping the tool into the doctor's waiting palm, before vanishing._

_**"Readings are normal."** He said, staring at the readings on the lens. **"It appears your energies are stabilising even further."**_

_Sans blinked. "that's good, right?"_

_**"Of course! Unless you would like a crack in your skull like yours truly."** Gaster said, with a tired chuckle, before glancing back to his student. **"No dizziness, no headaches? Besides when you enter the CORE facility, of course."** The doctor added._

_The younger skeleton shook his head. "nope. my head just **lens** itself to the usual stuff." He said, shrugging._

_Gaster nodded, observing the lens reading once more. He could see Sans' face fall at his lack of a reaction, and smirked._

_... No afflictions. No other physical side effects._

_Nothing that Gaster **knew** of._

_He dismissed the lens, glancing over his shoulder at the CORE chamber._

_ It crackled loudly, once more. _

_ His eyes narrowed, and he turned back to his student. _

_ **“Sans… have you been feeling alright?”** _

_ The younger skeleton blinked. “uh, yeah? i just said - no dizziness.” _

_ Gaster shook his head. **“I understand, but… I mean something other than dizziness. Other symptoms.”**   _

_ His student leaned forward in his chair, his grin weakening. _

_ "uh... other symptoms?" _

_ The doctor straightened his posture. _

_ **“Sans… ever since the human came down here - have you noticed anything… strange?”** _

_ The younger skeleton blinked at the question, raising an eyebrow. “uh… define ‘strange,’ doc.” He said, looking up at him. “ ‘cause... the underground in lockdown is a strange thing in general.” _

_ Gaster chuckled. **“Indeed it is.”** He paused. **“… Do you remember this morning?”** _

_ The younger skeleton blinked. “uh, yeah? you mean like, an hour ago?” _

_**“Sprig and Reno were running a stabilisation test.”** Gaster began, slowly. **“Despite his best efforts, Sprig’s spacial awareness leaves a lot to be desired.’** _

_ “you’re tellin’ me, doc.” Sans said with a chuckle. “that was a close one. think he does too many allnighters. i don't know how he does it.” _

_ The young skeleton looked up at him again. “why're ya asking me, doc? we were both there. i remember what happened.” _

_ Gaster stared back.  _

_**"You had your back to them.”** He said, carefully. _

_ Sans cringed. “… well, yeah.” He looked down. "sorry. i probably shoulda been paying more attention, that time." _

_ The doctor glanced down at his desk. His gaze was drawn to the injury reports. _

_**“You stepped out of the way."**  He recounted. **"You narrowly avoided an acid burn.”** _

_ The younger skeleton blinked. “… guess i was just lucky.” _

_ Gaster glanced back up at his student. _

_ Something in his tone had changed. He’d become less conversational and more thoughtful.  _

_ His sternum tightening, Gaster decided to press harder. _

_ **“… You had no way of knowing what was happening right behind you. Sprig made no sound. You stepped to the side, unprompted.”** _

_ Sans blinked. “well, yeah! why wouldn’t i? it really hurt last…” _

_ He froze. _

_ “… time.” _

_ The doctor stared at him. Sans’ gaze was distant, now. He raised a hand to his eyesocket, tracing over it. _

_ “… but i… it didn’t…” _

_ **“Sans?”** _

_ The skeleton’s eye sockets had gone completely dim. _

_ “… it didn’t happen.” He muttered to himself. “… but it…” _

_ He looked up at the doctor again, and Gaster could hear the faint rattle of bones. He was trembling. _

_ “… it really… hurt.” He said, blinking. "i... it burned." _

_ Warily, Gaster stood up from his chair, walking around the desk to reach the younger skeleton. _

_**“Sans, deep breaths.”** He said, softly.  _

_ His student shook his head. “it burned and…” He grasped at his skull. “…but it didn't... **i** didn't..." _

_ The younger skeleton looked up at him, eye sockets dimming entirely. A look of fear suddenly overtook his features. _

_ "... this isn't right." He muttered.  
_

_ The doctor hesitated. The explanation was on his mind, prepared and thought through in his head. _

_ But... _

_ His student looked horrified. _

_ **"Sans... please calm down."** _

_ "... something's wrong." The skeleton rubbed at his eye socket. "i've been... it's been **weird,** lately, doc... things feel so familiar. but i can’t remember ‘em... **happening.** ” _

_ He looked up at Gaster. "doc... what's happening to me?" _

_ The doctor hesitated. The light in Sans' eye sockets returned, only to shrink into pinpricks. _

_ "doc, am i gonna be okay?!" _

_ Gaster held up his hands. **"You're fine. You're going to be fine! I believe..."** He hesitated. **"It's only..."** _

_ The human. It's only the human, he wanted to say. The human was manipulating time and... _

_ His hands faltered, slowly lowering. _

_ And Sans was being dragged along. Sans was being pulled into a potentially horrific truth. A truth that Gaster had taken years to come to terms with. That he'd been fine bearing alone, with the exception of a close friend. _

_ The doctor's mouth closed. _

_ What **exactly** would that knowledge do to Sans? _

_... He'd already been through enough, hadn't he? He'd already been a victim of the doctor's shortsightedness. _

_ "doc, what **is** it?" The younger skeleton's tone was becoming more frantic. Gaster realised that he'd said nothing for almost ten seconds - and perhaps his expression was betraying his thoughts. _

_ **"It's..."** _

_ The doctor looked down at the tiles, frowning. _

_ **"... It's not important. Please don't worry."** _

_ It was flimsy. The words slipped out. He had never lied to his student, before. _

_ Gaster couldn't do this. _

_ “doc, something's **wrong!”** The skeleton suddenly yelled, releasing his own skull. “y-you know that, too! i’m not okay, doc! i can’t…" _

_ Gaster stepped back from Sans, who suddenly stood out of his chair.  _

_ “doc, please! what’s wrong  w i    t      h              m        e        - _

_  
_

_  
_

* * *

 

 

_  
_

_ T            h        e            y   o u nger skeleton blinked at the question, raising an eyebrow. “uh… define ‘strange,’ doc.” He said, looking up at Gaster. “ ‘cause the underground in lockdown is a strange thing in general.” _

_ Gaster blinked. _

_ **“I…”** _

_ Sans blinked. “doc, you alright?” _

_ He was calm. Perfectly calm. _

_ The doctor shook his head, placing a hand on his forehead. Relief threatened to make him collapse, but he put all of his efforts into maintaining his facade.  
_

_ "doc...?" _

_ Gaster stood up straight, with a tired smile, rubbing his temples. _

_ **“… Yes. I apologise. I must have spaced out.”** _

_ He'd been pulled a few minutes back. Whatever he'd said, whatever he'd done... it had been erased. _

_ Sans was calm. Confused, but calm. _

_ "you've been spacing out a lot, lately." The younger skeleton said, blinking. The doctor sighed, allowing his hands to fall to his sides - though he summoned one of his auxiliary hands to massage his forehead, trying to stave off a looming headache. _

_ "Lack of sleep, I'd imagine." He sighed. "The presence of a human in the Underground doesn't allow me to rest all that well." _

_ Sans gave a weak grin. "yeah, you got that right." He rubbed his eyesocket with the base of his hand. "maybe just nap on the couch in the break room. that's what i do." _

_ "In spite of what we tell you." The doctor said, the smile on his features beginning to feel genuine, once more. _

_ Then, Sans paused, and Gaster’s non-existent stomach dropped. _

_ “i, uh... were we talking about something else?” The younger skeleton asked, suddenly. _

_**“What do you mean?”** Gaster’s voice remained level. _

_ “… i don't know.” Sans muttered, deep in thought. “i… i don’t know what it is, but…” _

_ **“We were simply discussing if you were feeling alright.”** _

_ The younger skeleton looked up at him, startled. The doctor inwardly cursed at the sternness in his tone. _

_ He’d made a decision. _

_**"No dizziness, you say?"**    
_

_ Sans shook his head, confused. "uh, nope. headaches don't last as long, either." _

_ There was a pause. To his dismay, the doctor could see the gears turning in Sans’ mind. He abandoned his slouched position to sit up straight, confused. _

_ “… doc… what exactly did you mean by ‘strange?’” _

_ The doctor was silent, closing his eyes.  
_

_ Sans got to his feet, still staring at him. “i mean... i don't think i've been feeling dizzy or anything, but... there's been something - ” _

_ **"Sans."** _

_ Gaster’s eyes reopened. He looked exhausted. _

_**"... I summoned you here, because of the recent human threat."** He said, slowly. **"... As you know, there have been casualty reports. The human is slowly making their way to Hotland."** _

_ It was enough. He'd done enough.   
_

_ Gaster needed to do something. _

_... Perhaps distance from the CORE would help. From the rifts. _

_ From everything. _

_**"Our facility is very secure, as you know."** He began. **"But I believe it would be best if you took leave, for now."** _

_ Sans blinked, straightening. _

_ "... go on vacation?"  
_

_ Gaster watched as Sans’ expression turned from one of shock to stubbornness.   
_

_ "not that i'm complaining, doc - but with the human around, we've sorta been running behind on a lotta things..." He frowned. "... and i can handle being around here in lockdown, you know? i can teleport on home whenever, and - " _

_**"You and I both know that humans can be unpredictable."** Gaster said, sternly. **"And I... do not doubt your abilities, Sans. But we still need to exercise caution about many things. Especially now."** _

_ He looked up at the younger skeleton. **"Please understand. This is a dangerous matter, and while we can place the facility into full lockdown, I do not want to take any more chances. You are safest in Snowdin."** _

_ Sans stared at him a moment. He appeared thoughtful. Clearly displeased at the turn of events, but thoughtful. _

_ Gaster was pleasantly surprised when the younger skeleton relaxed. _

_ “… alright, doc.” He said, quietly. “i get it.” _

_ Sans pushed himself out of the chair, turning away from the scientist as he walked towards the office door. Gaster noted his expression was quite sullen - unlike the young skeleton's usual attitude. _

_ **“… Stay safe, Sans."** _

_ His student paused at the door, turning around to face the doctor.  _

_ "... you, too, doc.” _

_ The door closed behind him, and Gaster leaned forward, resting his head in his hands. _

_ Sans had been on the brink of death, thanks to his own negligence. He had inadvertently received a power the crew knew almost nothing about. Months ago, he was nearly attacked by Gaster’s own creation - and now Sans showed signs of the CORE energy still developing in his system. _

_ His eye sockets slid open. _

_ Gaster couldn’t let anything else happen to Sans. He couldn’t let anything befall Val, either. He’d made his peace with the idea of the CORE element within him going awry - but should Val, Owel, Sprig and Reno **also** be exposed to CORE energy in a similar manner… _

_ His eyes fell on the papers upon his desktop. He waited a few minutes, studying them, but not actually reading them. _

_ When he was certain that he wasn’t about to be dropped back into the middle of a conversation unprepared, he leaned forward in his chair, exhaling silently. _

_ His coffee had gone cold. No sense in any more caffeine, he supposed. He was wired enough to begin with. _

_ After a pause, Gaster reached over and yanked open his desk drawer. _

_ Rolls of blueprints were crammed inside, marked with numbers and symbols. _

_ Codes of his own creation. _

_ He rifled through them, quickly recovering the one he sought. He unrolled it upon his desk, his gaze darting briefly at the security camera in his office. _

_ Look casual. This was simply work, after all. _

_ The blueprints were fairly messy and scrawled. His own code seemed lopsided - the desperation in his handwriting was evident. He had not been in the best state of mind when he’d initially designed this. _

_ He’d kept it aside for future use, after his desperation had passed - after he’d accepted the time jumps as routine. _

_ He’d been onto something. Perhaps it was a matter of refining the mechanism or the plans themselves. He’d need to run some more tests on that front. Provided that he wasn’t interrupted in his progress every half hour by time shenanigans. Who knew how much longer the human would evade capture? _

_ Gaster studied the prints intently. _

_ The properties of the CORE element seemed to be varied - but if his and Sans’ experiences were anything to go by, the element was absorbed directly into their magic. Into their SOULS. _

_ It was completely interwoven. Past a certain point, it was impossible to expel it via normal medical means. _

_ Gaster stared hard at the haphazardly scrawled goatskull-like design. He needed to be sure it would work, first - and he would need to refine several things… _

_ … but it was a start. _

_ He rolled the blueprint back up, and dismissed it into his inventory with a wave of his hand. _

_ The CORE element had become a problem. _

_ So… he just needed to create a **solution.** _

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Sans didn’t know where he was.

Something seemed to constantly roar in his nonexistent ears.

Though it all sounded... muffled. Like he was underwater.

He was vaguely aware of a pain in the back of his cranium. He couldn’t recall why at this point in time.

 

 

He felt his limbs dangle limply. Someone’s scaly and well-defined shoulder was digging into his sternum a little. He could see the blurred tiles of the facility floor rushing downwards before him.

He was being carried, again. He couldn’t really complain, he supposed.

For the time being, he was content to drift in a semi-conscious state.

It... seemed welcome. Needed.

The roaring grew a little louder. He stirred in discomfort. The muffled sound seemed to grow a little more clearer - a little more high-pitched.

A small spike of panic resonated in his chest, and he began to stir a little more insistently. He felt the grip on him tighten, and the ground seemed to be passing by even faster.

Sans’ head throbbed. He tried to regain his alertness, but he once again found himself slipping. The blow to his head was making everything fuzzy.

... or was something else doing that?

He let his eye sockets drift closed. He felt his consciousness fade, and the buzzing slowly began to fade away.

Yeah. Whatever was going on right now could wait. He needed this.

He needed a break…

 

 

* * *

 

 

  _“… not that i_ **_want_ ** _one.” Sans muttered, kicking a snow poff out of his path._

_He dragged his feet through the snow, all the way back to Snowed Inn. He’d just taken the rift from the CORE facility back to the outskirts of Snowdin Woods. It was best he stayed out of sight in case someone from town spotted him jumping._

_…Not like he’d have to worry about that for the next week, apparently._

_Heading into town, Sans could see that Snowdin was starting to regain its bustle. Several monsters were darting between the town shop and their homes. There was still tension in the air regarding the human - but the threat had not been sighted in the area for days. Adults were becoming slightly lax and taking their time on the way to the store or Grillby’s - and some teenagers were now bold enough to sneak out._

_Sans frowned as he meandered past the town sign._

_What had the doc been thinking?_

_That afternoon, without any warning, Gaster had abruptly placed Sans on a week-long vacation period, forbidding him from coming into work before it was over._

_The younger skeleton probably would have celebrated all this under any other circumstance. But Sans really enjoyed working at the facility - it kept his mind off the whole human situation. And if he was ever worried about Papyrus, he could sneak a jump back to town to see how he was doing._

_Sans stopped in front of Snowed Inn, with a sigh._

_The temporary dismissal left him irritated. But aside from that, there was something else on Sans’ mind._

_He’d been… feeling strange, lately._

_He couldn’t put it into words. He didn’t feel sick - nothing that indicated that the CORE element was acting up. It was one of those things that he had never really noticed until it was distinctly pointed out._

_It had happened when a sleep-deprived Sprig had knocked over a steaming coffee mug in the break room. Sans had been leaning on the counter when it happened - completely relaxed and at ease._

_But somehow alert enough to hurriedly lash out and catch the mug in midair._

_“You tearing a page out of the doc’s book or something, kid?” Sprig had remarked as Sans had handed the mug back to the blue monster._

_“uh… what do you mean?”_

_“You’ve been really on-point, lately. Like the doc.” Sprig shrugged, sipping at his mug. “Amazing timing and all that. Are_ **_all_ ** _skeletons like that?”_

_Sans blinked. “i don’t… know?”_

_The skeleton had never noticed it, before._

_It was almost reflexive - subconscious. He tried to remember why he’d decided to reach out to the mug in the first place, and he had nothing to go on._

_Sans had thought hard about it for the rest of lunch break._

_He’d remembered a faint sound of shattering - a faint feeling of heat splattering on his ankle. When it came to imagery, however - he’d been completely lost._

_What did it mean? What was he remembering?_

_…_ **_was_ ** _it remembering?_

_For some reason, the whole thing bothered him. As the day went on, he ‘remembered’ more and more things. Knowing the outcome of the latest coolant run right off the bat. Knowing where he’d be needed, before the morning briefing had even begun. Quickly calling Owel to tell her to change her usual route from Waterfall, before reports had confirmed the human had been in the area._

_… Feeling a small ache in the back of his spine, and choosing to take another rift route home, that day._

_It had been happening for a few weeks now, he’d realized. He just… hadn’t noticed all that much._

_The whole thing started sounding less cool and more… unnerving. Days passed, with Sans on edge about his reflexive knowledge. Some days he just inexplicably **knew** things. And he wasn't sure why._

_The young skeleton stopped walking, kicking the snow decisively._

_He'd wanted to bring it up with the doc. But he'd been doubly on edge, lately. Every time he'd approached him, the doctor would assign him something, or turn him away to Owel or Sprig._

_A couple days later, he’d been placed on break, just like that._

_The doctor had justified that the human was starting to stop circulating Waterfall and begin heading towards Hotland - but Sans had the feeling that the doc just wanted him out of the way, for now._

_The skeleton’s irritation faded, and he sighed._

_Nah. He couldn’t assume that. Maybe the doc had his reasons._

_He’d given him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the doc was right. Maybe he did need a break, if he was this on-edge. It wasn’t gonna hurt to take one - and hey, since when did he protest taking one in the first place?_

_Sans was frustrated. There were a lot of awesome projects on the horizon, and he also wanted to be there for when they succeeded with the coolant tests._

_He'd just have to take the doc's word for it._

_Sans suddenly felt a small chill in the air behind his skull._

_Deftly, he stepped to the side._

_A snowball sailed past his shoulder and splatted on the snowy ground before him._

_Sans paused, staring at the point of impact. Then, he glanced over his shoulder._

_He could see a couple of teenage dogs hurrying behind a building, muffling their giggling. He raised an eyebrow, a grin appearing upon his features._

_He packed a snowball of his own, hurling it forward with all his strength._

_“hey, snow poffs! **fetch**!”_

_Both dogs immediately left their cover to chase after the thrown snowball. They collided into the ground together as it splattered against the snow. One of them rose up, shaking the snow out of her white fur._

_“(That’s playing dirty!)” She barked._

_“yeah, well, so’s throwin’ a snowball from behind.” Sans said, shrugging._

_“How’d you dodge that, anyway?” The other dog said, dusting himself off. “You didn’t even see us.”_

_The skeleton shoved his hands in his pockets. He privately hoped that his smile was still coming off as genuine._

_“good question.” He muttered. Then, he turned on the spot, continuing his walk through Snowdin. “well, seeya.”_

_Best not to think about it. He was on break._

_He didn't need to think about work. He didn't need to think about what projects to do, for now - as much as he wanted to._

_Sans sighed._

_The human was heading to Hotland. There wouldn't be much time for the crew to work on things during lockdown._

_... They probably weren't working on anything important._

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_The skeleton sat in a dimly-lit room._

_He stared at the papers scattered about his desk with a frown. Symbols were jumbled around, in an intricate pattern of what seemed like nonsense to the naked eye._

_Codes upon codes. Mysteries upon mysteries. This was a matter of intense skill and concentration._

_He couldn’t miss a thing. If he did, it would be disastrous._

_It would cost him dearly._

_His gaze was drawn to a certain series of symbols, and he paused._

_Cautiously, he leaned over, pen at the ready…_

_… and circled the word “FROG” in the third column to the left._

_Papyrus beamed, holding up the Junior Jumble page up in the air in pride. He’d done it! He’d finally found a word! It must have been an especially secret word, too - because ‘FROG’ certainly wasn’t on the word list._

_“EXTRA POINTS!” He said, slamming the page back down on the table. Now for the rest!_

_The small skeleton was currently sitting in his and Sans’ rented room at Snowed Inn. It was a normal day for Papyrus - except he wasn’t allowed outside, and hadn’t been allowed outside for about a week, now._

_Perhaps that wasn’t so normal._

_No kids were allowed outside, he’d been told. It was too dangerous for them. Everyone was saying so._

_(Except for Sans. He frowned. Sans was still a kid! He was fifteen! Why was_ **_he_ ** _allowed outside?)_

_Mrs Lago had gone out for the day. She’d said she’d had some errands to run, and that she’d be back before the day was over (She’d locked the window that Papyrus had used last time to sneak out)._

_Papyrus was mostly left to his own devices, solving puzzle after puzzle. It was enough to keep him entertained, but he still wanted to play outside sometime soon. Surely he’d be allowed, just for a few minutes!_

_He wasn’t quite alone in this ordeal, though. Sans was in town right now, and he wasn’t even going back to work for the next few days!_

_His brother hadn’t sounded too excited when he told Papyrus about that, but the younger skeleton was thrilled, anyway. His brother had become so busy, nowadays. He hardly even got to see him in the evening, when Papyrus was supposed to be in bed._

_(Not like anyone slept well in the Inn. Someone was always snoring noisily…)_

_There was a chime as the downstairs door opened, followed by the smell of greasy food wafting upstairs._

_Papyrus made a face. Sans had just returned with takeout from Grillby’s. He was getting tired of the same old dinner every day - he wondered if Mrs Lago’s sister next door would give him a Cinnamon Bun, instead._

_Placing the puzzle back down on his desk, he hurried over to the door and opened it, looking down the stairs to the sound of the phone ringing._

_He saw Sans hurry over to it upon the reception desk. He picked it up, setting the food down beside him._

_“hey. snowed inn, here. the lady of the house is out, so - ”_

_He paused. “oh! heya, reno.”_

_Papyrus’ face lit up, and he stood at the top of the stairs. He liked Reno! He was funny, and cool - and used words in ways the young skeleton had never thought of, before. (Reno even did puzzles with Papyrus when he stayed over with Sans while he was sick - he’d introduced the younger skeleton to crosswords, but they were_ **_way_ ** _too easy for him)._

_But if Reno was calling…_

_Papyrus’ face fell again. That meant Sans was talking about boring work stuff. And he wasn’t supposed to interrupt his brother when he was talking about boring work stuff._

_He was about to meander back into the inn room to finish his puzzles, when he heard Sans’ voice suddenly rise in volume._

_“wait, wait - calm down, buddy.” He paused. “say that again?”_

_Papyrus turned away from the door, hovering at the top of the staircase._

_“… no. i haven’t seen him drop by.” Silence. “… are you sure he’s not in the facility somewhere?”_

_Papyrus hesitated. He sat down at the top of the stairs, jiggling one of his legs. There was something in his brother’s voice that seemed off._

_He didn’t like it._

_“…two days?!”_

_There was a long silence. Papyrus fumbled with his sweater. Now Sans sounded worried. He hadn’t heard his brother sound like that for a very long time._

_“yeah. yeah. no, i get it.” He heard Sans sigh. “i’ll ask the guard around here. take some shortcuts if i have to.”_

_A pause. “hey, don’t worry. i’ll stay away from hotland. that’s the danger zone right now, yeah?” He sounded a little more cheerful, and Papyrus relaxed for a moment._

_Then tensed, once again. ‘Danger zone.’_

_He brought his knees up to his chest._

_That meant the_ **_human._ **

_The scary thing that everyone had been talking about lately. The reason why kids like him weren’t allowed outside right now._

_Papyrus didn’t know a whole lot about humans - except that they were dangerous and strange and powerful beings. He’d never seen one before - he wasn’t even sure what they looked like. But they even made the Royal Guard - the coolest, strongest and bravest monsters in the entire Underground - tremble in their boots._

_(Or maybe it was fleas. It had been a problem with the Snowdin Sentries before.)_

_Papyrus didn’t like being ‘evacuated’ when the humans came along. It was exciting at first, but it was a lot of rushing and chatter, and he was small and got lost in the crowd easily. Sans was always at work when it happened. Mrs Lago was especially strict during those times. They all had to hide away in the side caves in the Snowdin Woods._

_Worst of all, they had to be quiet. It became very boring very fast._

_“alright, buddy. i’ll let you know.”_

_Papyrus blinked back into the present. It sounded like his brother was finishing up the call. He suddenly felt a little self-conscious there at the top of the stairs._

_“okay. yeah. stay safe, reno.”_

_The younger skeleton frowned at his brother’s worried-sounding voice. Then, he jolted when he heard the phone drop down on the receiver._

_Papyrus stood up, hurrying back into his and Sans’ room._

_He’d decided to show his big brother the secret words he’d found in the Junior Jumble._

_That would_ **_definitely_ ** _cheer him up about…_

_… well, whatever it was he was worried about!_

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

**_There had been no warning. No signs - no prior announcement._ **

**_At the peak of the human threat, where a few of the guard sentries had been reported to be dusted, the Royal Scientist had disappeared._**

**_Val been the last person Gaster had spoken to, but the doctor hadn’t shared any information with them in the slightest. The serpentine monster recounted that he’d been in a mild state of panic. They had given him space for a moment - but upon being unable to find or contact the doctor, they had contacted the Royal Guard as quickly as they could._ **

**_Sprig had scrubbed the security footage, tracking the doctor’s movements. He’d last been seen heading out of the CORE facility on the New Home side. King Asgore, weary but attentive of the situation, stated that he had not seen the good doctor anywhere in his home or castle. The guard search in New Home was equally fruitless._ **

**_Val was temporarily placed in charge. They continued to monitor the CORE in silence, only pausing to remain updated on any new guard reports - their efforts were primarily focused on the human’s movements._ **

**_Owel continued working on the coolant solutions. They were getting very close to a breakthrough, and she didn’t want to lose momentum. Her concern about the situation manifested as bags under her eyes._ **

**_Reno assumed the worst, as usual. But the red monster was spotted later in Hotland, giving elaborate descriptions and information about Gaster’s last sightings - even with the human so close to the area._ **

**_Sans was told to remain in Snowdin, mainly due to respecting the doctor’s wishes - but also to entertain the possibility that Gaster was potentially in the area. The young skeleton doubted it, but he still did his best to assist - he leapt through all the rifts in the woods and searched all the nooks and crannies of the cliffs. He gave information to the sentry guard as well - if anyone could track down the doctor in the area, it was them._ **

**_Sans had done his best to spend time with his little brother, but his mind was elsewhere. He kept thinking about his team, and work. He was itching to do something about the whole situation. Papyrus spent a lot of time on his own - he could handle a day or so more, couldn’t he?_ **

**_A couple of days later, after Papyrus had been put to bed, Val was the one who called Snowed Inn._ **

 

 

* * *

 

 

_“still no sign of him around here.” Sans reported, leaning against the wall behind the Snowed Inn reception and peering up the stairs towards the Inn rooms. His voice was low - he’d just barely managed to put his little brother to sleep. Sans hoped that the ringing hadn’t given Papyrus an excuse to leap out of bed, again._

_“i asked the guard to help out a bit, but the sentries can’t get a whiff of him, no matter how hard they search.” He continued, turning away from the stairs. “sorry, val.”_

_“At least we can confirm that he is not in your area.” Sighed the monster on the other end. “… which potentially means he may be in the danger zone.”_

_Sans blinked. “… you think he’s in hotland?”_

_There was a pause on the other end._

_“… If he is, I certainly hope his reasons are justified.” Val said, sounding a slight more concerned than Sans remembered._

_The latest human sighting reports placed the human around the vast Hotland area. The guard was concentrated in the area - and many residents had to be evacuated to New Home. There had been no signs of the doctor in Waterfall so far - with the lack of spare guards on duty, old man Gerson and a small platoon of Temmies had been kind enough to search the marshes in their spare time._

_The skeleton thought a moment._

_There was no way Gaster would be irresponsible enough to wander around in the open, especially with the human around._

_So, if he **was** in Hotland, how would he be sneaky about it?_

_“… is the lab elevator up or down?” Sans asked, suddenly._

_“I am sorry?”_

_“the elevator. the really finicky one that you can’t operate unless you’re inside it - the one connecting the underground lab and the castle.” Sans paused. “the doc could get to hotland without risking bein’ spotted using that thing.”_

_Val paused. “He could.”_

_“i mean, if he **is** there, where else would he go but the old lab?” Sans said, raising his eyebrows. “besides, that’s the only place that’s not out in the open! maybe he’s down there.”_

_“… I have notified the guards of that possibility.” Val said, slowly. “Their priority, however is to track the human. They will not be investigating that area for a while, yet.”_

_The serpentine monster had seemed reluctant to share that little bit of information. Sans frowned._

_Geeze. What was with everyone trying the shield him, lately? Even if the human was dangerous, it wasn’t as if the younger skeleton was helpless._

_“Sans. I understand the severity of the situation.” Val said, slowly. “But I_ **_implore_ ** _you. Do not do anything foolish.”_

_The young skeleton’s eye was already activating, scanning the two rifts within the room._

_“you mean just be_ **_smart_ ** _about it, right?” He said, offhandedly._

_Val was silent for a moment._

_“That is a very specific interpretation.” They said, lowly. Then, they sighed. “Let the guard handle this, Sans. You are not equipped for confronting humans.”_

_“but the guard’s busy. you said so yourself.” Sans said, staring hard at the rift he’d decided on taking. “i’ll just take a quick look, val - i promise. i won’t go above ground.”_

_There was a long pause. The older monster seemed to understand that in this point in time, Sans likely could not be stopped._

_“If I do not hear from you in fifteen minutes, I will assume the worst.” Val said, slowly._

_“isn’t that reno’s job?” Sans smiled._

_“… Remain safe, my dear.” Val sounded tired._

_The skeleton's smile dropped._

_“you too.” He said._

_Sans hung up. He glanced over his shoulder up the stairs, making sure that the bedroom door was still closed._

_Finally, he charged into the nearest rift._

_Within seconds, Sans was back in the Underground lab, below Hotland._

_The lights were off. It didn’t even look like this place had been tended to since the accident he’d had, a few months back. His eye was illuminating his surroundings with flashes of blue and yellow. He deactivated it, instead opting for it to become its regular (and much less obnoxious) soft blue._

_It almost felt nice for the younger skeleton to lapse back into using his regular magic. While his teleportation skills were handy - the CORE element had never quite felt like it belonged with him. Not to mention, he didn’t risk having a headache during its use._

_The skeleton glanced around the darkness of the halls, meandering forward. It wasn’t until he’d walked past a monitor on the wall that failed to light up with text that he realized the power was out._

_He blinked, glancing over his shoulder. There wasn’t a power outage in Hotland, was there? Maybe a fuse had been blown?_

_At least he knew for a certainty that he could escape via rifts if he wanted to._

_Although that did mean that the doctor was potentially trapped, if he was down here. It would take a lot to get the elevators back up and running._

_Sans walked past the generator room elevator that led to the king’s castle, making a face as he did so._

_That thing was a pain in so many ways. It malfunctioned a lot - not to mention, the four keys that were necessary to open it up tended to vanish and pop up days later in the strangest of places._

_The skeleton meandered towards the main hall, his footsteps echoing in the silence. He blinked at the sight of the old work benches - as well as the chunk of wall missing from where the intelligence centre had been taken out._

_He cringed._

_For a place that he’d worked at for so long, what used to be familiar and welcoming suddenly seemed alien and unnerving. There was something in the air that almost felt constricting to him._

_…Maybe the CORE Fragment accident had gotten to him more than he thought._

_Suddenly conscious that he was on a fifteen-minute schedule, Sans darted down the hall towards the testing chambers. He doubted the doctor would be at work with the power out - but he’d been nowhere in sight, so far._

_He didn’t even reach the testing chambers before he was stopped in his tracks in the narrow hallway._

_Glass shards sparkled on the floor. One of the doors had been scorched and was dangling off of one hinge._

_And right before him, Dr WD Gaster was sprawled out facedown on the tiles._

_Sans’ eye sockets grew wide, and he charged forward._

**_“doc!?”_ **

_The younger skeleton knelt beside him and rolled him onto his back. The doctor was unconscious and silent. There was a thin layer of muck on the front of his lab coat and shirt - he’d dragged himself here before passing out._

_Sans’ sternum grew tight. How long had he been down here?! What the heck had happened to him?_

_(… had he fallen down?)_

_The younger skeleton shook Gaster’s shoulders. “doc._ **_doc_ ** _!”_

_He glanced around, gritting his teeth. He knew that there was nothing left in the infirmary down here - all the equipment had been moved to the CORE facility… and he wasn’t one of those monsters blessed with healing magic._

_Sans was about to lift the doctor into the air using his SOUL magic, when he blinked in recollection._

_He glanced around, eyeing the hall that led back to the elevator._

_Dangit._

_That’s right - the power was out. The elevators weren’t working. How was he going to get the doctor to safety?_

_After a moment of contemplation, the skeleton activated his eyesocket, illuminating the dark space with yellow and blue. Maybe he could rush to the facility and get help - or something…_

_Sans flinched at the loud roaring that suddenly assaulted his hearing._

_There was a loud, roaring rift that sounded like it was coming from the old testing chamber - the one they’d used to test the CORE fragment._

_He automatically decided that he wouldn’t be using that one._

_Sans turned to the few other rifts in the hall - and was startled when he realised that one was only inches behind him. Initially panicked, he started tugging Gaster away from it, recalling what the doctor had said about his initial experiences of reaching into the rifts._

_The doc’s hands had holes in them already - Sans wasn’t about to let the him receive any more cupholders than he needed._

_Yet, in the process of trying to drag the doctor away, Sans noted something._

_Gaster was completely intact, in spite of his vicinity to the rift. One his legs was only inches away - and there were no signs of it becoming swiss cheese._

_In fact, the rift… seemed to almost be drawing him in, a little._

_Hesitantly, Sans approached the tear in space-time - still keeping a hand on the unconscious Gaster’s shoulder. The skeleton felt the familiar tug of the rift itself. It wasn’t rejecting him._

_Sans glanced to his side._

_And in turn - it didn’t seem to be rejecting the doctor, either._

_... was it because Gaster was unconscious? Was it because his magic was deactivated?_

_... or was it because..._

_Experimentally, he took the doctor’s arm, and held it closer to the rift._

_Cautiously, he allowed the arm to poke through. He withdrew it again._

_It was intact._

_Sans glanced back at the doctor, frowning. He was still unnervingly quiet and limp in his grasp._

_Drawing in a breath, Sans made a decision._

_He jumped._

_As they were both swallowed by the darkness, Sans felt a notable strain in his eyesocket. He winced - maybe having a passenger on this trip wasn’t the best idea. Weightless, and no longer encumbered by the larger skeleton, he darted through the seemingly endless darkness, rifts of light whipping by him in streaks._

_He found the exit he was looking for within seconds._

_Sans burst out of the rift with Gaster in tow, collapsing hard upon the hallway tiles of the CORE facility._

_He lay there for a few moments, groaning as he forcefully deactivated his eye socket. The strain vanished, though he still had a throbbing headache from his efforts. With the added headache from the proximity to the CORE on top of all that, Sans was starting to feel a little faint._

_The smaller skeleton released the doctor (who now lay flat on his back) and pulled himself sitting upright against the wall. He drew in one shaky breath after another, massaging his skull._

_“… never doing_ **_that_ ** _again.” He muttered._

**_“…Sans…?”_ **

_The younger skeleton jolted. The voice was weak, and dry-sounding. But it was unmistakably Gaster who had spoken._

_The doctor’s eye sockets were wide open - at least as open as they could be considering his scarring. His head had rolled to his side, staring directly at Sans. He looked exhausted - but startled, most of all._

_Sans crawled back over to him, one hand still over his eyesocket._

_“doc! are you okay?!”_

_The doctor blinked slowly, as if taking time to process what he was seeing. His head rolled back upwards to face the ceiling._

**_“… the CORE?”_ ** _He whispered to himself._ **_“… how did we…?”_ **

_Sans suddenly felt a pang._

_Right. He'd probably caused many potential safety violations by choosing to drag the good doctor through a timespace rift without rigorous testing - and was probably about to be lectured on the matter in a few seconds._

_He took a deep breath, looking down at the older skeleton. “okay, uh…doc? don’t freak out, but i…”_

_The younger skeleton trailed off as Gaster’s head rolled to his side, once more. The beginnings of a fascinated look appeared on his features._

**_“What… was that place…?”_ **

_Sans blinked._

**_“…I’ve never seen anything like it.” _ ** _He mumbled, deep in thought. Then, his eye sockets grew wide._

**_“... I didn't think... that it would look like that at all."_** _He said, in wonder._

_…Oh._

_“doc - you were awake just now?” Sans asked, hesitantly._

_Gaster stared over at the spot where they’d fallen out of the rift. Sans almost expected him to activate his eye sockets, but the normal white pinpricks within them remained unchanged._

**_“Sans... Is that what it’s like when you jump?” _ ** _He asked, his voice raspy. The skeleton was startled to hear him chuckle softly. **"You leapt through that place... as if it was nothing..."**_

_“…doc? we gotta get you to the infirmary.” He said, a little firmly. “i, uh - i’m not really fit for carrying you right now.” He absentmindedly kept rubbing at his eye as he rose to his feet. “i’ll go get help!”_

**_“… I imagined that it would… be nothing but blackness.”_ ** _Gaster said, as if he hadn’t heard him._ **_“The light rifts were quite a sight… I always thought that realm would be pitch black.”_ **

_His eye sockets drew closed._ **_“... the further we went... the darker it was, however.”_** He sighed. 

_Sans nodded. “uh, yeah. good thing i had a 'lightbulb; moment, huh?” He glanced around. “i’ll be right back, just… stay put, okay, doc?”_

_He rushed down the hall, slowing his pace when his dizziness increased. He could hear Gaster continue to mumble to himself as Sans continued his slow but determined stride._

 

 

**_“Dark… darker… yet darker…”_ **

  


	18. A Strain

**_Word spread quickly of Dr Gaster’s safety._ **

 

**_There were fears for his health. He was initially quite weak and delirious - almost unable to hold a conversation for the first few hours he'd been found. However, after about a day of rest, the doctor seemed to bounce back quite quickly._ **

**_He’d waved off any attempts to be taken to the infirmary, insisting that he was alright._ **

**_When asked about what he’d been up to or why he’d been in the underground lab, Dr Gaster remained silent. He claimed that he was 'escaping the human,' and left it at that._ **

**_The crew fretted over him for days, as routine steadily resumed despite the lockdown. Though they were relieved to have their leader back - and even more amazed to hear that Sans had been the one to save him. In light of that, t_** **_he young skeleton had been expecting some kind of reprimand from both Val and Gaster for his mainly-unauthorised use of his powers._ **

**_Oddly enough, t_ _he young skeleton found himself. back at work before his break had officially ended._ **

**_He was relieved, and happy to be back in the swing of things - with the human reports growing more unnerving, Sans was in sore need of a little bit of ordinary. Returning home to Snowdin each day, he spent more time with his little brother - feeling much more at ease._ **

**_Yet, in the days following Gaster’s return…_ **

**_…Sans noticed that Val seemed unusually distant from the doctor._ **

**_They had not spoken a word to Gaster since shortly after his rescue - in spite of their closeness and major concern beforehand._ **

**_Val remained as amiable and as calm as ever to the rest of the crew - yet every time the doctor was in the room, they remained wordlessly fixed on their task._ **

**_It was unusual. They were close friends, weren’t they? Maybe they were having a bit of a falling out?_**

**_The younger skeleton chose not to think too hard about it._ **

 

**_It was during Sans’ first evening on security duty when he was forced to think otherwise._ **

 

 

* * *

 

 

_“How many sodas do you **need** to stay conscious, kid?”_

_Sans sipped the yellow soda in his coffee mug, nonchalantly. “y'know, i haven’t found out, yet.” He paused. "guess tonight's a good night to try."_

_Sprig made a face, rubbing one of his eyes. “Keep tally, next time.” He glanced over at the various mugs littering the security dash board - all containing soda with all the different colours of the rainbow. “...And re-use your mug. I can barely reach the controls at this rate.”_

_“can’t decide on a flavour.” Sans said, placing his mug back on the dash and grabbing another. Then, he grinned._

_“if you ask me, think you’re just **green** with envy about the whole situation.” He jerked a thumb at the lime-flavoured soda._

_“Wouldn’t bet on it.” Sprig sighed, leaning forward and inspecting the vast array of sodas._

_“_ _Now… where’d my coffee go?”_

_The sound of coughing and spluttering caught the blue monster’s attention. Sheepishly, Sans handed his mug over to Sprig, a grimace on his features._

_“found it.”_

_Being on night security had been an impromptu decision. An alert had gone off near New Home, recommending everyone stay indoors - the human had been seen on the edge of Hotland. Sprig and Sans had been the only ones left at the facility during that time. While Sans offered to teleport Sprig home, the blue monster had abruptly protested._

_“Look, just because the **doc** got through one of those rifts unscathed doesn’t mean **I’m** safe, kid.” He’d muttered, waving a hand._

_For some reason, Sans hadn’t particularly wanted to entertain the thought of leaving Sprig alone during the lockdown. So, after the young skeleton had given Mrs Lago a call about the situation, they’d both holed up in the security monitor office. And_ _Sprig began to show Sans the controls._

_The monitors were spread out before them in a grid that seemed to cover the wall, each showing live footage of all the rooms of the facility. The blue monster taught him the recording buttons, how to deal with signal and audio interference, what to look out for - and also to make sure he didn’t mess with the footage._

_(Sans didn’t see the point - about an hour into the gig, it became clear that nothing interesting happened after work hours.)_

_Recieving his mug from Sans, Sprig eyed it in mild distaste._

_“… I’m cleaning this and getting a refill.” He gave Sans a pointed look. “Don’t touch anything while I’m gone. Capisce?”_

_Sans’ leg was jiggling from the sugar high. “i gotcha, sprig.”_

_The blue monster sighed._

_“You’re going to be a wreck tomorrow, kid.” He said as he left the room._

_The young skeleton swivelled back and forth in his chair. Dang. Sans wasn’t about to introduce Papyrus to red soda anytime soon if even **he** was vibrating on the spot. _ _He put the mug down._

_A movement disturbed the stillness of the monitor grid, and he blinked._

_The skeleton stared at the camera feed a few screens to the left of him._

_The resolution wasn’t that clear..._

_...but someone was **clearly** in the lower facility._

_Sans glanced over his shoulder at the windowed door that led to the hall. Sprig had only just left the room for his coffee run. Unless he could defy space-time like Sans, there was no way he could be down there so quickly._

_... there was no way **anyone** could be down there, unless..._

_The skeleton leaned forward, watching the screen intently. The lighting was dim, and the footage was a little fuzzy from a poor signal that plagued the cameras of the lower facility - but the tall, lanky form of Dr Gaster was very distinct._

_The doctor stopped at a familiar-looking blast door - patterned with black and yellow. He typed a code on the dial pad upon it, and placed his hand upon a second screen to be scanned. The door lifted upwards slowly into the ceiling, and with a quick glance around, the doctor disappeared into the chamber._

_He reappeared on a screen a couple monitors to the left, and Sans scooted his chair to the side to face it directly._

_The skeleton's eyesockets grew wide._

_It was a familiar-looking chamber. Sans recognised as the room he’d accidentally jumped to, the first time he’d discovered his new powers. The skeleton blinked upon seeing the lights flicker on in the room, revealing the large, skull-like weapon._

_It hadn’t moved since he’d last seen it. It still hung from the ceiling, suspended by cables and wires._

_Sans felt a tightness in his sternum._

_He watched as the doctor summoned a strange, curled tool to his side. As Gaster approached the monstrous skull, the light in its eye socket flickered to life._

_It watched the doctor closely. The younger skeleton tensed, initially fearing for his mentor’s safety - but Gaster reached out and placed his hand upon its forehead. It settled down with a small chirp, its gaze staring straight into the distance._

**_“Easy.”_** _The doctor_ _said, his voice muffled with the static of the camera feed._

_Sans watched as Gaster took the tool and ran it across one of its many scrapes. He couldn’t clearly see what the doctor was doing - but he was pretty sure the tool was glowing a soft green._

_It was only after a few moments of staring that Sans realised that the monstrous skull was starting to look a lot less… scarred. The slashes and chips that had adorned it were becoming replaced with a much smoother and sturdier surface - as if the gashes had never been there to begin with._

_The doctor continued to work in silence, and Sans’ eyes narrowed in confusion._

_Gaster **knew** about the camera footage. Clearly, he wasn’t intending to hide anything. But why had he shown up at night unannounced?_

_… to fix a project that he’d seemed hesitant about even discussing a few weeks back, for that matter?_

_It wasn’t long before the sugar crash began to take effect, and Sans leaned back into his chair, blinking sleepily. Yet despite his eyelids threatening to close, he couldn't find it in himself to relax._

_“… what’re you up to, doc?” He asked, quietly._

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

**_Two days passed._ **

**_After three weeks of the Underground in lockdown, the human threat was finally neutralised._ **

 

 

**_A few members of the guard had been dusted, as well as a few civilians. The rites were performed appropriately. There was a renewed fear of humanity throughout the Underground - but also a rising sense of excitement of having six human SOULs in total._ **

**_Freedom was on the horizon. The barrier could soon be broken._ **

**_The Underground was abuzz in energy. For both the possibility of life on the surface once again, and fear of the most recent human intruder._ **

**_There were rumours from the gossipy Madjicks that the King himself had taken down the human in one decisive blow._ **

**_There were mutters from the Night Knights that the human looked like they needed a long nap._ **

**_There were whispers from Sir Whimsalot that the human had approached the king in his throne room in silence._ **

**_The Captain of the Guard noted that the human had wordlessly dropped their battered pistol at the King’s feet without a fight._ **

**_A week passed by, and these rumours were soon forgotten._ **

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_“here ya go.”_

_Reno jolted from his slouched sitting position upon the break room couch, startled. Sans was currently holding out a burger towards him, wrapped in greasy paper._

_“W-What’s that?” The red monster asked. Sans lifted up the brown paper bag in his other hand, already stained in grease._

_“grabbed takeout from grillby’s on the way here.” He grinned. “thought you could stand to have somethin’ other than popato chisps - or whatever the vending machine’s got, nowadays.”_

_Reno puffed out his chest, mildly indignant. “For your information, I only eat the ceaser sallad.”_

_“my point exactly.” Sans shrugged. “c’mon, buddy. i owe ya for last time.”_

_It was lunch break. Reno had been dismissed fairly early from experiment proceedings, and Sans had excused himself to join him in the break room. Despite Gaster's return, Owel was still taking the helm of many coolant and stabilisation tests. She, Gaster and Sprig continued with the trials without pause._ _Val worked silently at the CORE controls as usual._

_Sans noted that they still weren't speaking much with Gaster._

_The younger skeleton sat down on the rest couch, his own burger in hand. With a sigh, Reno slouched next to him, eyeing his food distastefully._

_“Is this really all you eat, Sans?” He asked, grimacing._

_The skeleton shrugged, grinning. “well, maybe i should mix it up. i guess i could stand to go on an all-almond diet. but that’s just **nuts**.”_

_Reno gave a small sigh._

_“I suppose.”_

_There was a long silence._

_Sans turned to his friend, who seemed to be staring hard at the fillings of his burger._

_“hey, reno? you doing okay, buddy?”_

_The red monster jolted, wide-eyed. His gaze seemed to stretch off to the other end of the room, beads of sweat appearing upon his forehead._

_“It’s finally happened.” He said through gritted teeth. The fillings of the burger were steadily being squeezed out by his grip. “I’ve brushed off one of your crimes against wordplay.”_

_Sans sat up straight. “you know, i’d be a lot more excited about that if you weren’t acting like the world was ending.” He paused. “in a more, uh - low-key way than usual, i mean.”_

_There was a long pause. Reno placed what remained of his burger back down onto the table, wrapping it back up in the greased paper. He gave a heavy sigh, his ears drooping back._

_“It very well may be.” He said._

_Sans raised an eyebrow._

_“uh... what’s up?”_

_The red monster was silent for a moment._

_“I’m being pushed aside a lot, nowadays. Talked down to.” Reno muttered. Then, he sat up straight, gesturing grandly with an arm. “I illustrate all the ways something can go wrong - my usual recital of safety protocol and **more**!”_

_He suddenly deflated. “… And Gaster just... calls me the ultimate pessimist.”_

_Sans blinked. “seriously?”_

_Reno allowed his arm to drop back to his side. “Well… not **quite** in that phrasing." He admitted. "...But he’s been cutting me out of a lot of experiment trials.” _

_The skeleton placed his burger down on his lap, frowning._

_“Just... like earlier, today. I’ve been a bit… **sparse** on the roster. He’s not letting me participate in major experiments.” _ _Reno slouched back on the couch with a groan. “Just… grunt work.”_

_Sans glanced down at the tiles._

_He’d had no idea that Reno was getting the short end of the stick in terms of workload._

_However, Sans had noted the doctor’s changing attitude towards the red monster. He’d begun to cut him off during each safety briefing before each coolant solution experiment._

**_“… We are on a tight schedule, Reno.”_ **

**_“We’re going to be here all day if you continue, Reno.”_ **

**_“You speak as if we’re not aware of this, Reno.”_ **

**_“Thank you for coming to work. I will call you to the room if we need anything. For now, stay in the break room.”_ **

_Sans’ eyes narrowed._

_… It wasn’t **just** Reno. Gaster seemed to be becoming a little… lax with his safety protocol. Nothing outlandishly irresponsible - but he would occasionally skip some parts of preparatory routine. As if he were more impatient._

_After a pause, Sans handed Reno his own untouched burger._

_“here. seeing as you’ve sorta squeezed your burger’s guts out.”_

_The red monster made a face._

_“… A good phrase there, Sans.” He sighed. “Enough to make me lose my appetite.” He accepted it regardless, with a sigh. The skeleton leaned back on the couch, cradling the back of his skull with his hands._

_“maybe he’s just… havin’ a rough week.” Sans found himself saying. “y’know, after the human ordeal and everything.”_

_Reno’s shoulders slumped. “Y-Yeah. Yes. That must be it.”_

_The skeleton frowned at his tone. Then, he leaned forward slapped him on the back._

_“hey, if he starts pickin’ on you again, let’s talk to him about it, yeah?” He said, cheerfully. "pretty sure he's not aware of what he's doing. we'll just give him a heads-up."_

_“… Talking to Gaster.” Reno repeated to himself, his eyes growing half-lidded in exhaustion. “... Easier said than done. He used to be so approachable. Now… the idea of talking to him seems...” The red monster shrank into himself._

_Sans reached for the hamburger, hoping to spare this one from the other’s fate._

_“he’s not that bad, is he?”_

_Maybe Gaster was acting strange now - but there was no reason to believe that it would last. Reno would be back to his regular self again, Gaster would return to being on top of safety protocol like before - and the team would be restored to the same old shenanigans._

_Besides, they were so close to making progress with the CORE._

_Gaster’s behaviour couldn’t put a damper on that._

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

**_Two weeks passed._ **

**_As the days had gone by, Gaster had been becoming increasingly less present at the coolant trials. He’d begun spending more and more time in his office, and in the lower facility._ **

**_The upside was that he’d begun to give Reno some breathing room. The downside was that he was starting to give the rest of the crew too much breathing room._ **

**_The coolant project seemed neglected, as did the CORE. Owel took up the entire mantle of the project, working tirelessly with Sans and Reno as her assistants. Val continued maintaining the CORE, though was occasionally seen confronting Gaster about the situation._**

**_Their interactions were short and curt._ **

**_Sprig was becoming increasingly grouchy at the security data. The CORE was suffering mild instability, and it was messing with the camera feed in the lower CORE facility something fierce. However, he was certain the doctor was spending most of his time there._ **

**_One day, Sans was dismissed from work far earlier than usual by Gaster._**

**_He was told that his assistance was not necessary at this point in time. After Sans made a few vain protests about the situation, the crew soon witnessed the young skeleton storming off._ **

**_Minutes later, Sprig left his security post for his usual lunch break. As usual, he locked the door behind him._ **

**_Sans happened to be storming past the room on the way to the exit, when he found himself stopping in his tracks._ **

**_He vanished into thin air a few seconds later._ **

****

 

* * *

 

 

 

_The security room was briefly illuminated with flashing blue and yellow._

_Frustration changed rapidly to nerves, as he deactivated his eyesocket._ _The door remained locked behind him, and suddenly, he was having second thoughts about this whole thing entirely._

_If Sans was honest with himself, breaking and entering hadn’t been something he’d pictured himself doing when he’d first signed up for this job. There were a lot of things that he hadn’t pictured himself doing, honestly - but somehow, this one took the cake over space-time rift jumping._

_A part of him wanted to jump straight back through that rift and forget this ever happened. Hey, he was mad at the doc. Maybe he just needed to cool his head._

_... but another part of him really wasn’t content being left in the dark._

_He'd been watching Owel slowly cursing to herself as the three of them worked on more and more coolant solutions. He'd watched Val and Gaster's brief conversations in the halls, the serpentine monster attempting to speak sense into the doctor, only to be brushed off._

_Even Sans wasn't being given the time of day. And now, like Reno, he was also being dismissed early when his crew clearly needed assistance._

_Drawing in a breath, he stepped forward to the security console._

_If Gaster wasn’t going to explain himself and neglect the main project, then maybe the younger skeleton would have to do some digging of his own._

_Sans glanced over at the controls, then looked over his shoulder. Nobody was around, as far as he could tell. Everyone was either in the mess hall on break, or down in the lower facility._

_Sprig would be back soon. Sans didn’t have time to scrub through the footage on his own. But even if the skeleton attempted to do this at night hours, Sprig would probably be present the entire time... Lunch break was his best bet._

_Apologising to the blue monster under his breath, the skeleton looked over to the monitors. Where could he even start? What place could even possibly have any kind of answer?_

_His eyesockets fell onto the screen that displayed Gaster’s office._

_Sans paused. Then, he shook his head._

_Nah._

_Nope._

_Nuh-uh._

_There was a rift in that office. But it was crossed out on the map. Val and Gaster had given him the map of the Underground Nexus in good faith. He wasn’t about to take advantage of their trust and leap over to any of the forbidden rifts. No matter how curious he was._

_... Then again, he'd already just stepped through a forbidden rift a few seconds ago._

_A minute passed._

_Sans stepped forward and turned off the camera feed to Gaster’s office._ _He activated his eye socket, and stepped through the nearest rift._

_In moments, he was next to Gaster’ desk._

_Several beads of sweat appeared on his skull. All or nothing, he supposed._

_Kneeling out of the line of sight of the office door window, Sans peered at the doctor’s desktop. A stack of reports was slowly accumulating upon it - the skeleton doubted they’d even been looked at._

_He glanced down at the drawers. He tugged the first one open, mildly disappointed to find nothing more than office instruments. The second was more or less the same._

_It was the third that caught his attention. There were several rolled-up pieces of paper neatly arranged within it - yet they were also reaching capacity within the drawer._

_Blinking, Sans took one out._

_It was a blueprint. An old date was scrawled next to the rubber band that bound it. It had been crossed out, a more recent date with neater handwriting beside it._

_Glancing around, Sans sat down and unfurled it upon the floor._

_Initially excited, the young skeleton was disappointed to find that the blueprint was written in some kind of code._

_He stared hard at the symbols that littered the paper. They varied in shape from snowflakes to diamonds to… hands?_

_"ugh..."_

_He was no good at stuff like this. Engineering came to him just fine - but he didn’t really know where to start with figuring out a cipher._

_He briefly wondered if Papyrus would have an easier time with stuff like this._

_Scanning the symbols in vain for a little longer, Sans’ gaze was finally drawn to the main design on the blueprint - large and in the centre._

_It resembled a massive goat skull, with curling tubes coming out of its cranium. A cross section was sketched out next to it, detailing all the mechanical components and where they belonged within the mechanism._

_Sans blinked._

_...What the heck kind of schematic **was** this?_

_Rolling it back up and placing it aside, he picked up another blueprint from the drawer. Like the previous print, it had another old date scrawled out and crossed out upon its back, with a newer date next to it._

_Sans unfurled it, laying it out on the tiled floor._

_More strange ‘hand’-writing. They surrounded another skull-like design._ _As well as the code itself, there were also several strange, distinct **runes** were scrawled beside the skull. They were unlike anything the young skeleton had ever seen, before._

_He frowned._

_Not to mention, **this** skull was quite distinct from the goat skull machine. Unlike the mechanism, this drawn skull displayed teeth and spikes. The general shape differed from the other machine, significantly more predatory-looking than the goat skull. _

_In fact, looking at the cross-section, Sans wasn’t sure if it was a machine at all._

_The skull itself didn’t look like it required any mechanical components to function. It appeared to be less science-based and definitely more magically-oriented._

_Organic._

_...It clicked after a few more seconds. He hadn’t exactly recognised it without the mess of tubes affecting its appearance._

_It was the same monstrous skull Gaster had been keeping in the lower facility._

_Sans stared at the drawing for a few more moments, before rolling it back up._

_That thing still kinda gave him the creeps._

_Giving the deactivated camera a glance, Sans decided to unfurl one more blueprint. He didn't know when Sprig would be returning to the security console, after all._

_The blueprint he fished out was marked with a single, recent date._

_It was only a week old._

_Upon opening it, the skeleton was disheartened to see that it was also littered with Gaster’s code - though Sans found himself even more confused at the schematics it featured._

_It seemed like a diagram of sorts. It included a monster SOUL - a white, upside-down heart. There were several chemical and alchemical symbols surrounding it._

_Sans recognised a few runes from the blueprint featuring the spiked skull weapon._

_A vial, a needle and a mote of energy were drawn at the bottom left corner (adjacent to a few symbols that strangely resembled a hand holding a pencil). A smaller drawing of the monstrous skull was to their right._

_Sans frowned, frustrated. He couldn’t make the slightest amount of sense out of this one - and if it was a recent schematic, maybe it was important._

_He rolled it back up, and placed all three back into the desk drawer._

_The skeleton sighed. He’d been hoping to figure **something** out from this mess, but he’d come up empty-handed. Maybe he’d have to find a way to figure out that code in his own time._

_… In the meantime, he needed to get out of here. Sprig would be returning to the security console at any moment._

_Sans activated his eyesocket, spying the rift next to Gaster’s desk._

_He leapt on through, reappearing in the security room - and switched Gaster’s office camera back on. It was suspect, but it was the best he could do for now._

_Maybe Sprig would assume that the signal had gone faulty._

_Sans hurried through the next rift he saw, reappearing in the CORE facility halls. He figured it was probably a good time to try going home. There was a pretty direct rift to Snowdin Woods around here. If he could find it, then -_

_“You are still here, I see.”_

_The young skeleton would have gone into cardiac arrest if he was in possession of a heart._

_He deactivated his eye socket and spun to see Val, situated directly to the left of the rift he’d stepped out of._

_Sans’ eyesockets dimmed in surprise. His grin became strained._

_“uh… heya, val.”_

_Wow. He didn’t know his voice could still crack like that._

_“Good evening, my dear.” The serpentine monster nodded, though their gaze did not leave Sans for an instant. “The doctor sent you home half an hour ago, did he not?”_

_The skeleton placed his hands in his pockets, a bead of sweat appearing upon his skull._

_“it’s uh… been half an hour?” He said, shakily. “didn’t notice.”_

_There was a pause. Val tilted their head at him._

_“…For a skeleton, you have a terrible poker face.” They chuckled, quietly._

_Sans tensed, feeling regret build within him._

_Val was among the ones who’d given them the Underground Nexus map in the first place. How was he supposed to face them seconds after messing around with its information? Or even outright lie?_

_“i-i was just… checking somethin’ before i left.” He shrugged. It was pretty much the truth and he felt slightly better about that - but the vague phrasing was enough to make Val close their eyes._

_“Well. I certainly saw nothing suspect.” They said._

_Sans felt a pang, as they looked back up at him._

_"I understand you are angry, my dear." Val sighed. "I am, as well. There are many things changing around here. But I must repeat myself - though last time, it may have benefitted the doctor's safety, please do not act impulsively."_

_The skeleton tensed. The serpentine monster was staring directly at him, their expression stern._

_“…I want to make something **very** clear, Sans.” They said, their voice low. “I have many unsavoury things to say about people using power… irresponsibly.”_

_They paused, then muttered under their breath. “Then again, it is rude to gossip, isn't it?”_

_Sans deflated, the lights in his eye sockets shrinking into pinpricks. “i-i - look, val, i’m- ”_

_Val held up the tip of their tail in a silencing gesture, and Sans complied, straightening his posture._

_“Please keep in mind that the consequences of such misuse do not solely rest on you.” Val said, firmly. "Do you understand, my dear?"_

_The skeleton drew in a deep breath, then glanced down at the tiles._

_... He wasn’t an idiot. Maybe breaking into security on a whim was a stupid idea. Stuff like this was pretty dangerous. And… he hadn’t meant to disappoint the likes of Val. He hadn’t meant to disappoint his crew in general._

_But he was getting sick of being led around like this, day after day, without knowing the end result._ _He needed to figure things out. The rest of the crew was stonewalled - the doctor wasn't being open to **any** of them. _

_Why couldn't he try to find a way to change things? He was the one who was best equipped for it, wasn’t he?_

_“...sure.” Sans found himself saying, quietly. “i get it.”_

_To his surprise, Val’s expression grew a little somber._

_“I can only hope.” They muttered._

_They gestured down the hall with their head, and began to slither forward, Sans trailing after._

_“I will accompany you to the exit.” They said softly. “When you leave the facility, please return home. I surmise your brother will be happy to see you home so early.”_

_The young skeleton snorted. "yeah..."_

_Since the human threat had passed, Papyrus had become an unstoppable ball of energy. He'd been excitedly dashing out into the woods each day._

_In the face of strangeness, maybe all he needed was a bit of familiarity._

_He quietly glanced over at the serpentine monster, who slithered silently beside him. They faced forward, appearing both somber and exhausted._

_The young skeleton's face fell. He found himself fiddling with his lab coat, slightly._

_Sans hoped they had that kind of familiarity to go back to, too._

_“i’m… sorry, val.” He said, quietly._

_The serpentine monster did not look at Sans, yet a smile had appeared upon their features._

_They continued down the hall in silence._

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

**_A week passed._ **

**_Business continued as usual - the crew continued working hard on the coolant project, even with their leader absent for most of the time. Half of their funding seemed to be disappearing._**

**_It was no mystery that Gaster was using it for something else._ **

**_The question of what remained a mystery, until one day, Reno’s scream summoned the rest of the crew to the hallway._**

**_The doctor stood back from the red monster who was backed up against a wall, papers flying everywhere. But despite his odd behaviour, the source of Reno’s fear wasn’t coming from Gaster, himself._ **

**_Hovering next to the good doctor was an eerily familiar skull._ **

**_It didn’t take long for Sans to put the pieces together. This was the same skull he’d encountered in the bottom of the facility. The same skull he’d seen drawn in those blueprints a few weeks ago._ **

**_The doctor had done an amazing job restoring the mangy, beat-up weapon in the facility to an unrecognisably pristine state._ **

**_Val curtly asked on whether Gaster had used the funding and resources that they’d needed for the CORE to perform such a feat._  ** **_Gaster smiled, stating that this skull had been operational for weeks. He’d introduced it as a Gaster Blaster (a name that had made Sans snort with laughter). He was simply testing its capabilities and obedience, he’d said - figuring out its capacity to wander through a new and unfamiliar environment seemed like a good place to start._ **

**_T_** **_he monstrous skull was initially jittery - and every time it risked panicking, the doctor swiftly dismissed it back into his inventory. Eventually it began to settle, its keen eyes observing all who passed it by. Seeing Gaster accompanied by a Blaster became a common sight for days to come._ **

_**Any protest about its presence was met with a chatter of teeth from the weapon. Gaster insisted that this tool would have a use to monsterkind once he'd finished its own trials. He simply requested his crew's patience.** _

**_Protest soon died down to tolerance._ **

 

**_It was late one night when Sprig managed to bypass the faulty camera reception that had been plaguing the footage of the lower facility._ **

**_Sans found Sprig in the break room the next morning, sipping coffee and rattling quietly on the spot from caffeine overdose._ **

**_When prompted, Sprig muttered that there was no longer one Gaster Blaster within the facility._ **

**_There were eight._ **

 

 

* * *

 

 

_It was evening, at the CORE facility. The majority of the crew was headed home - though Sans remained behind._

_It was kind of in solidarity. His mentor hadn’t been doing so well, lately._

_Owel, Gaster and Sans currently stood in one of the chemistry labs. Several beakers were laid out on the experiment bench before them, each filled with a different-coloured mixture of sorts._

_One of Gaster’s newer Blasters hovered closely behind them, and Sans swallowed at its presence._

_A sleep-deprived Owel was reporting to the doctor about the experiments logged for the day. The lizard monster was managing to recollect all the chemical compounds involved in their creation, despite looking asleep on her feet._

_Yet Sans, who stood to the side recording notes on a clipboard, couldn’t help but wonder if the good doctor was feigning interest._

_“The last five solution tests have been promising.” Owel continued, staring at the beakers. “Both Zeta and Sigma have shown similar properties - but the composition that causes the least variables is - ”_

_**"Its exposure to the CORE element resulted in shrinking the sample itself, did it not?"** Gaster asked, glancing over at the Blaster skull._

****_Sans' teeth clenched. This had been the third time the doctor had interrupted Owel's report. He eyed the weapon, warily._

_“…do you **have** to have that thing in here, doc?” He asked, frowning._

_It glanced at him, growling lowly. The young skeleton took a step back, and Gaster chuckled._

**_“Easy, Sans. This is a recent addition. I’d advise against aggravating it.”_ **

_The small skeleton glared down at his clipboard. He loosened his grip on it, upon realizing it was starting to creak from the strain._

_“Back to the coolant solution, doctor.” Owel said, her patience running thin. “The Sigma solution is our best bet. It’s had a 100% success rate with the CORE fragments we’ve tested with so far - but it remains to be seen if it’ll remain stable upon being administered to a larger sample.”_

_The doctor was silent. Hesitating, Owel continued with a small amount of uncertainty in her tone._

_“… We can’t test on anything larger than what we’ve been given. The facility doesn’t accommodate for CORE fragment tests on a larger scale - ”_

**_“Is there a point to this, Owel?”_ **

_Sans nearly dropped his clipboard._

_He spun to Gaster, who was inspecting the Blaster with feigned interest._

_The lizard monster’s expression did not take long to change from shock to rage._

_“… Doctor?”_

**_“I am asking you, Owel.”_ ** _The doctor repeated._ **_“Is there a point to using this substance as a mere coolant? Should we not explore the other effects it is having on the CORE?"_**

_Owel’s eyes were blazing. She stood up tall, facing the doctor with a glare._

_“… doctor, the goal for this research was to further stabilise the CORE. To keep it at a manageable temperature.”_ _She said, her tone even._ _“You know. The project we’ve been putting in our time and money for? Benefitting the future of monster kind?”_

_There was a silence._

**_“Tell me, Sans.”_ ** _Gaster said, suddenly turning to the younger skeleton._ **_“…How many human SOULs do we have in our possession?”_ **

_Sans raised an eyebrow. “… six, doc.”_

**_“And how many do we need to destroy the barrier?”_** _T_ _he doctor asked, pointedly._

_The younger skeleton’s eyesockets narrowed. He really didn't care for Gaster's tone, right now._

_“… seven.”_

**_“Very good.”_ ** _The doctor turned to face Owel once more, who was quietly seething._

**_“I_ am _thinking on our future.”_** _Gaster said, glancing at the CORE._ **_“While maintaining a reliable power source for the Underground is ideal - the fact remains that the Barrier may soon be coming down.”_ **

_He turned to Owel._ **_“We may need to consider other properties of the CORE, rather than merely using it as a power plant. Repurposing it, perhaps. There is also the fact of what may come next, after monsterkind is freed. We may need to consider our defenses."_**

_The sea-green monster stood up straight, glancing over at the Gaster Blaster. Her expression traded rage for a stone, cold glare._

_“…_ **_More_ ** _cannons, doctor?”_

**_“... It would be better to have more factors under our control."_** _Gaster said. **"**_ **_We_ ** **_suffered some losses during the previous human’s descent._ ** **_We do not know what the nature of the next human will be. Nor what we may encounter above ground.”_ **

_“Then we have to consider staying underground after the barrier is_ **_broken_."** _Owel’s teeth were gritted. “In that instance, we need to keep up ways of maintaining a reliable power source. We have_ **_people_ ** _down here, doctor. Friends and family who_ **_need power."_**

_There was a silence. Sans glanced between the two scientists, a bead of sweat appearing on his skull._

_“Look. We **don’t** know what’s waiting for us up there.” Owel said, firmly. “But we can’t put all of our focus on humanity, either. We’ve been working on a reliable coolant for _ **_months_ ** _, doctor. And now we’re so close to not having to worry about CORE instabilities. Val won’t have to be working so hard, we won’t need Snowdin to keep cooling the damn thing!”_

_Her eyes narrowed._

_“You **can’t** tell me this project has no point. Not after we’ve all worked so hard on it!”_

_There was another silence. The dark room was awash in the light that the CORE provided from the main chamber. The energy crackled quietly around it._

_Gaster glanced over at his Blaster, seemingly deep in thought._

**_“… Do not mistake my alternate suggestion for a lack of interest.”_ ** _He said._ **_“I have been incredibly curious as to what may result from the concoction.”_ **

_He placed a hand over his eye, rubbing it slightly in discomfort. Sans watched as his violet eye-socket activated, and he glanced around the room._

_The young skeleton blinked. He was looking at the rifts._

_**"I am curious about altering the properties of the CORE."** Gaster said.  **"And what may result in the environment around it."**  
_

_Owel raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”_

_Gaster deactivated his eye sockets, removing his hand._

" **There can be more achieved than mere stabilisation. I do wish to test** ** _solution Sigma…”_** _He_ _turned to Owel, his gaze becoming stony._ **_“…whether for its original intent or otherwise."_**

_He summoned a piece of paper into the grasp of one of his floating hands. The Blaster eyed it curiously, but Sans could recognise it as one of Owel's many discarded reports._

**_"And your most recent test demonstrated something quite... interesting.”_ **

_Owel shook her head. "Nothing groundbreaking, doctor. It was just proof of consistency." She looked out at the CORE._

**_"Perhaps not anything you can recognise."_ ** _Muttered the doctor._ **_"But I would certainly like to see this particular batch in practice."_ **

_He slowly turned to look out of the reinforced glass window, over the CORE chamber. The orb continued to churn with all the colours of the rainbow._

**_“…on a much larger scale."_** _He said, curtly._

_Sans barely heard his clipboard clatter to the floor._

_Owel’s eyes grew wide._

_“… You **can’t** be serious.”_

_She stepped forward. “We’ve never tested on a fragment any larger than a **tenth** of the CORE’s size!”_

**_“You_ were _boasting about your solution’s success rate, Owel.”_** _Gaster said, crossing his arms._ **_“And you said it yourself - we are lacking in equipment for smaller-scale tests.”_ **

_The doctor turned away._ **_“…I would like to see where this leads. It's relevant to my interests.”_ **

_Sans felt a tightness in his sternum._

_“… You_ **_are_ ** _serious.” Owel muttered, wide-eyed._

_Then, her sharp teeth were bared._

_“Doctor, the quantity disparity was what caused the last CORE fragment accident in the_ **_first_ ** _place. We’ll be putting the whole facility at risk.” She blinked. “The whole_ **_Underground_ ** _at this scale!”_

**_“That’s a rather pessimistic outlook.”_ ** _The doctor said, raising an eyebrow._ **_“You’re beginning to sound like Reno.”_ **

_Sans clenched his fists._

**_“I shall decide on a day for this trial.”_ ** _Gaster said, offhandedly._ **_“A few weeks should be adequate for preparation, should it not?”_ **

_Owel’s eyes narrowed. Then, her expression grew stony._

_“… Not in the slightest, doctor.” She said, coldly._

**_“At your speed, it should be enough.”_ ** _The doctor said, waving a hand dismissively._ **_“What’s one more all-nighter for you?”_ **

_Sans’ eyesockets dimmed._

_The doctor almost seemed oblivious to their rage. He glanced out the window, out into the CORE chamber._

__A__ __smile, a rare sight nowadays, cracked his features._ _

**__"_ _ ** **_If you ask me, this next experiment seems very, very interesting._ ** _**What do you two think?"** _

_Gaster was met with silence. He chuckled, quietly._

**_"...Well, I suppose that doesn't matter."_ **

_Turning on his heel, he strode out of the room - the Gaster Blaster trailing obediently after him._

_There was a long silence._

_Sans let out the breath he’d been holding._

_He really felt like kicking something, right now. This had gone on long enough. The doctor had gone from open, to cagey, to tolerable to maniacal. He'd treated his crew like dirt - and now he was pushing for something that was completely unreasonable._

_But Gaster was the one in charge. He called the shots._

_“what do we do?” Sans asked, once he was sure the doctor was out of earshot._

_He was met with silence, and turned to face Owel._

_His mentor was staring hard at the CORE chamber. Her intense glare was reflected in the glass - though Sans could see that she was thinking hard._

_“…I’m ringing up Val and going straight to the King.” She said, at last._

_Sans blinked. “why?”_

_“Something’s wrong with the doctor.” She said, simply. “Not sure if he’s of sound mind or soul. We have to let the king know that he’s not fit for the position of Royal Scientist, right now.”_

_She turned to Sans. “Even if Gaster gets to Asgore first, though - I’m pretty sure His Majesty wouldn’t be dumb enough to let a test like this go through.”_

_The skeleton blinked, as the lizard monster began to move towards the door. Well, that was a good point. If Gaster wouldn't listen to anyone who was technically beneath him in authority - maybe he'd listen to the highest authority there was in the Underground._

_He began to trail after Owel, before she spun to face him, her gaze hard._

_“Kid. What're you doing?”_

_Sans blinked. "uh, coming with?"_

_There was a pause. Owel narrowed her eyes. She looked out the door in the direction the doctor had gone. Then, she glanced back to the CORE._

_"... No." She said. "You're not."_

_The skeleton felt a pang._

_“what?!”_

_The lizard monster sighed. “I mean it, Sans. This could get dangerous - especially with the doctor having one of those cannons by his side.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Too many things getting unpredictable, here."_

_Sans' eyes grew wide._

_"... he wouldn't!" He stepped forward. "the doc... he - he might be acting differently, and he might be making a bad choice - but he's not **dangerous!** "  
_

_“Kid.”_

_The skeleton froze. Owel looked tired._

_“...We really don't know that, right now." She said, slowly. "And we need to be careful."_

_There was a silence. The CORE's lighting flickered._

_"Val's at their wit's end. Sprig's been sleepless for the most part. Reno's been too scared to be in the same room as the doctor. I wouldn't have thought things would **ever** get this bad."_

_Sans was silent. Owel drew in a breath._

_"… so, I don't know what's going to happen. And it’d really help us all if you didn’t get involved.” She sighed. Them, she knelt a little, facing him directly._

_“Can’t risk putting you in danger again, kid. Not after last time.”_

_The skeleton said nothing. His eyesockets grew dim. Then, they closed._

_"... okay."_

_"Thanks, kid." He could hear the smile in Owel's voice. "_ _We’ll talk about this later.”_

_The lizard monster turned and sped out the door, her clawed feet clicking against the tiled floor. Her footsteps faded down the hall._

_Sans stood alone for a while._

_For a moment, he did consider following Owel’s advice._

_He considered simply leaving this to the adults. This was a dangerous situation. They wanted to protect him. They all did._

_His eye sockets narrowed._

_… so, why did it bother him so much?_

_Gaster didn’t get to treat his friends like this. He didn’t get to treat_ _anyone_ _like this._

_On top of that, Sans wasn’t_ **_helpless_** _. And everyone, this entire time, had assumed otherwise._

_He wasn’t just some_ **_kid_ ** _._

_He was capable. He could help._

_The Gaster Blaster flickered into his memory. Sans tensed._

_... He **had** to help. Somehow._

 

_A few moments passed._

 

_Alongside the CORE's brightness, yellow light flashed in the room._

_Yellow..._

_Blue..._

_And then, nothing._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go.


	19. A Hand

Sans jolted awake.

His surroundings were blurred, and rushing by - patterns of circuitry, coloured cyan. Unlike the last time he’d stirred, however, he was starting to anchor back into reality.

He was still being carried. A shoulder was still digging into his sternum, a firm grasp on his back keeping him from slipping.

A… scaly, well-defined shoulder…

He blinked.

_Oh._

Undyne was carrying him. He shifted a little in discomfort, lifting his head. 

_“where…?”_

Out of the corner of his eye, Sans saw the captain's head turn briefly towards him.

“Don’t you _dare_ panic on me now, knucklehead!” She roared, continuing to run.

Sans stared into space, blinking owlishly. Everything was a blur. And the buzzing that surrounded him wasn’t helping. Though, it wasn’t quite as bad as it had been back at the…

_… control panel…_

“… you knocked me out.” Sans recalled, dazedly.

“Yeah! You went down in like, one hit!” The captain glanced over her shoulder, briefly. “Would’ve expected more from you, after all that magical know-how!”

“…like to keep… expectations lowered…” Sans muttered, shaking his head.

Then, he blinked.

Wait.

Where _were_ they?

Sans glanced up, recognising the CORE exterior. Undyne’s footfalls were clanging down a walkway suspended over a deep, dark chasm. The electronics along the walls were flickering on and off - the CORE was barely powering the place.

The skeleton’s eye sockets grew wide.

The CORE hadn’t been re-activated, yet. Gaster was still on the loose.

_“where are we going?”_

Undyne skidded around the corner. “I’m trying to get us the hell out of here!” She yelled. “It’s open-air out here, but I gotta keep you out of his reach!”

Sans’ eye sockets narrowed into a glare.

What were they _doing?_  They’d been right there!

“we gotta get back to the control room.” He said, firmly. “we _have_ to finish the startup sequence!”

Undyne didn’t look down at him, skidding as she reached a corner.

“You think I’m just out for a freaking _jog!?_ ” She roared.

A buzzing screech suddenly reached Sans’ non-existent ears, and he curled inward, flinching. He was suddenly aware of the buzzing growing louder, developing into a roar.

His eyesockets went dark in recollection.

 _“… oh."_ He mumbled.

“No freaking out.” Undyne said, her voice low, but stern. “Keep focused, okay? I’m not letting him get his hands on you.”

Sans shut his eyes.

“…’preciate it.” He muttered shakily, through gritted teeth.

He could feel Gaster’s presence approaching. He was following them. He was getting closer - faster.

Sans’ clawed hand rose to the side of his head. He gripped it hard, focusing on the pain, instead.

Don’t listen. _Don’t_. _Listen_.

Just… keep focused. Ignore it.

_Ignore. It._

Sans was startled when he felt Undyne skid to a halt. His eyesockets reopened, hearing the captain breathing hard from her efforts.

“Damn it.” She muttered.

They’d hit a dead end.

There was nothing but a black screen upon the wall, flickering with green symbols from the power shortage - and oddly enough, a small rubbish bin was situated in the middle of the small chamber.

The walkway they stood upon had no railings. They were suspended high above the water channels that led to the facility’s CORE chamber. Across the chasm, about ten feet to their right was another walkway, stretching out towards a walled-off section of the CORE exterior.

Upon hearing the approach of a hovering Blaster, Undyne spun around to face their pursuer.

Sans’ eyesockets grew wide.

Gaster stood upon the side horns of the huge skull. He was looking a little more corporeal than usual. He was staring directly at Sans, eyes narrowed.

Despite the built-in fear rising back to the surface, the skeleton’s gaze was instead drawn to the several arms sticking out of his back.

They seemed to be composed of a thick, tarlike substance. The hands remained their usual skeletal selves, but twitched, periodically. They all seemed to be moving independent of the rest of the doctor’s body - but every time one hovered close to the ground, or towards the doctor’s head, it flinched away.

Sans blinked, slowly.

Okay. _That_ was new.

He didn't have time to think on it further. The imposed panic of the illness was growing too strong for him to focus. He reached up and tugged his hood over his eyes, gritting his teeth.

 ** _“I suggest you make this easier for everyone, captain.”_** He heard Gaster say. **_“You cannot possibly expect to keep running.”_**

Undyne’s stance grew wide, holding Sans away from the doctor.

“Glad to see there’s _one_ thing we can agree on.” She spoke through gritted teeth. “How about you stop making my friend here freak out every five seconds?”

Gaster hummed.

 ** _“He’s been nothing but trouble for you as well, I take it?” _**He said, offhandedly. **_“If you like, I can simply take him off your hands.”_**

Undyne hesitated.

Sans’ eyes remained shut, focusing hard on ignoring Gaster’s influence. Ignoring the screeching going on around him.

He just had to stay calm. The illness wouldn’t get the better of him - he just had to stay _calm_.

“Sans, I’m throwing you over the chasm.” Undyne said, flatly.

The skeleton’s eye sockets reopened.

“what?”

With a mighty _“NGAAAAH!”_ , Undyne took Sans by the leg and upper arm, swung him around once, and hurled him to the walkway to the right. With a yell, the skeleton gained enough focus to summon a bone attack in midair. He grasped it and swung forward, landing hard in a crouch upon the floor.

Initially rattled from the throw, he spun around and dismissed the bone. Gaster was already moving towards him over the chasm, astride the Blaster.

An energy spear shot clean through the monstrous skull from behind, sticking out of the Blaster’s eye socket. It shrieked, frenzied, and a rare look of panic suddenly appeared on the doctor’s features.

The arms on his back sprung to life.

Four of them stretched back towards the walkway they’d come from and grasped the edge tightly, two more surging over and scrabbling madly on the steel surface. He released the frenzied Blaster, but wound up dismissing it with a wave of his hand, rather than let it fly around blindly.

Sans stared as Gaster swung back to the edge of the opposing walkway. The doctor was gritting his teeth, his expression one of frustration.

Then, he cried out in pain as an energy spear dug into one of the arms currently grasping the walkway’s edge. With a roar, he hurled himself up over the side with his excess arms, aiming a kick at the captain of the guard. She countered it with the side of a spear, which crackled from the impact.

When Gaster stumbled back from the recoil, Sans realised he was no longer using his legs. His excess arms were doing the walking, now.

“GO, you numbskull!” Undyne roared over at Sans, summoning several spears. “Get out of the CORE! I’ll keep him busy!”

The doctor rounded on her, landing a punch in her gut with two fists. She was knocked back, sharp teeth gritted in pain, before summoning a wall of spears in the path of a third punch.

Sans stepped back, wide-eyed. Then, he scowled.

 _No_.

That was enough. He needed to get back to the control panel. He needed to find a way to **end** all this -

There was a screech.

Sans spotted the remaining Gaster Blaster noting his position and darting directly towards him.

The skeleton swallowed.

Yeah, alright. Okay. Maybe the CORE could wait.

Sans spun and ran, glancing over his shoulder briefly at the fight. Undyne had pinned two arms down with her energy spears, but was hard pressed to avoid the punches and slashes that the other arms were giving, due to their unnatural ability to stretch. One hand tore across her face.

Gaster was screaming at her in rage, tearing the two energy spears out of his arms.

Sans didn’t see anything past that. The fight disappeared from sight as the skeleton turned a corner.

He focused hard on his running. On his surroundings. Anything to distract him from the noise.

Anything to distract him from that panic welling up inside him.

Sans found himself upon another railed walkway, the steel appearing purple rather than the uniform cyan. He could hear the Blaster skull quickly approaching with a hum - no lasers were being fired after him. The skeleton was probably meant to be _retrieved_ instead of killed.

The skeleton found himself cast in shadow, and a bone attack materialised into his grasp.

He felt the Blaster loom directly behind him.

Sans spun around and shoved the bone directly into its open maw, locking its jaws wide open.

Pained and surprised, the Blaster shrieked as it struggled to snap the bone in half. Sans continued to run away, cursing his inability to use rifts at this point. Having his memories of this place, or no - the CORE was a maze. He needed to find some path. Heck, even the melted, scorched door frame - _some_ kind of indication on where he was supposed to go -

A loud snap sounded, and his body tensed as he watched a couple of bone shards go flying past him, hitting the ground before dissolving into blue energy. He heard the monstrous skull shriek at him, and Sans spun to face the rapidly-approaching Blaster, wide-eyed.

The ground began to shake.

A loud screech sounded from behind the Blaster, causing it to pause in confusion.

Something large collided with the monstrous skull from behind, with outstretched claws. They flew over Sans’ head, hitting the ground with a screech of metal as they landed with a skid upon the steel floor. The weapon was pinned beneath the newcomer’s grip.

Sans spun around.

The Gaster Blaster chattered its teeth under the weight of the beast’s forepaws, thin fractures snaking across its visage from the strain. With a sharp, almost scolding bark, the beast promptly chose to swipe it aside with a claw.

It plummeted into the chasm below the walkway, with a shriek that echoed throughout the facility.

Sans froze, as the great beast slowly turned to peer over the railing with a concerned rumble.

It was Papyrus.

His younger brother was still trapped in his Blaster form, and covered in a fair few more scrapes than Sans remembered. He stood tall and strong, a far cry from the shaky and unsteady crawl Sans had seen back at the bottom of Muffet’s Cavern.

“… do you think it’s gone?” Came a muffled voice.

Papyrus chuffed affirmatively, glancing up over his shoulder in response to the new voice.

It was then when Sans spotted Frisk upon the back of his neck.

They were currently half-covered by Papyrus’ tattered scarf. It had formed a sort of backwards pouch, which the human sat in fairly comfortably, grasping hard at the material.

Sans felt his eye sockets go dim, as Papyrus turned to face him. He chuffed again, lowering his head to get a better look at him.

The older skeleton stepped back.

No.

No, no _no…_

“what are you _doing_ here?” Sans whispered.

His brother withdrew a little, startled. Frisk leaned out from behind Papyrus’ spiked skull, appearing a little frazzled. Their hair and fringe looked as if it had been blown back quite a bit.

“W-we made it out of the cavern.” They explained, brushing their hair out of their face. “Papyrus managed to climb out - ”

Sans stepped forward, eye sockets going completely dark.

Frisk fell silent in response, startled at his expression.

As they _should_ be.

“why didn’t you _stop_ him, kid?” He asked lowly, fists clenched. “why didn't you tell him to stay put?! he was _safe_ there.”

Frisk blinked at his outburst. Sans appreciated the kid's penchant for not giving up, determination and all that - but _this?_

He was surprised to see their gaze grow stern.

“He wouldn’t have _stayed_ safe!” They said, pointedly. “If he can't run, then he's just another target for Gaster!"

"and what does _this_ make him, huh, buddy?" The grin on his features was a bitter one. 

He was vaguely aware of the sound of his brother growling.

"… I wasn’t the one who decided to run all the way here.” Frisk muttered, glancing over at Papyrus. Sans could see him still staring at him out of his peripheral vision. 

The skeleton’s teeth clenched together.

"you're not helping the situation, kid." His tone became cold.  "you’re playing _right into his hands._ he _wants_ papyrus here."

Papyrus’ head lowered back to Sans’ level, crooning. The smaller skeleton ignored him again, instead staring up at Frisk, still perched on the back of his brother’s neck. Their expression swapped from frustration to concern.

“... where are those claw-marks from?” They asked, wide-eyed.

The skeleton clenched his fists. 

"let me put this into terms that you can _understand_ , kid." He said, his eyesockets beginning to flicker with blue.  **“P a p y r u s   n e e d s   t o _l e a v e.”_ **  

**_CLANG!_ **

Light returned to Sans' eye sockets.

The Blaster had slammed a claw down to the steel floor beside him. 

Sans finally turned to look at his brother. He was growling lowly, a firm and stubborn look on his features.

Sans blinked.

He... looked upset.

“... you need to leave, too _._ ” Frisk said, softly.

A loud yell sounded from across the facility. Startled, Papyrus abruptly stood up tall, staring back down the walkway from where they’d come. Hearing the hum of energy spears, the beastly skeleton suddenly lowered his head back down to his brother’s level and charged forward.

Sans felt Papyrus’ jaws close around the back of his hood, and with a grunt, the skeleton was yanked off of his feet. The three of them tore off down the walkway, ducking around the corner into another walled corridor.

 _“what do you think you're doing?!”_ He yelled in surprise, struggling in his brother’s grip. Papyrus snorted, only increasing his speed in response.

“We have to get you to the exit!” Frisk shouted back. The skeleton struggled again, prepared to summon a BLUE attack on his brother to freeze him in his tracks -

A loud roar of rage echoed through the facility, and Sans flinched, curling into himself once more. Papyrus banked hard at a turnoff, dashing in the opposite direction of the sound.

Sans gritted his teeth, shaking his head. His focus was lost... he slowly began collecting his thoughts after the sudden scare.

... This was _bad_. 

All the pieces were falling in the doc’s favour. Undyne wouldn’t be able to hold Gaster off, forever.

And now Frisk and Papyrus were in the same building. 

All the doc had to do was _find_ them together, and it’d all be over.

He realised that he couldn’t stop Papyrus from moving ... he couldn’t risk using a BLUE attack and risk keeping them still long enough for Gaster to find them. 

He saw his surroundings flicker with blue and his shut his eyes. He heard Frisk call out to him in concern, felt the wind streak past him as his brother’s pace quickened in response.

They didn’t know where they were going.

They didn’t know what they were _doing_. This was a _mistake_.

Sans drew in a shaking breath.

They weren’t helping. No matter what they thought they were trying to do, they _weren’t helping_.

He grasped at his skull.

No matter what their capabilities were…

… right now, _they were just another thing that Gaster could **use.**_

 

* * *

 

_The CORE facility was silent._

_The lights were dimmed. After-hours, most people had already gone home. Typically, the only scientist that stayed behind was whoever was on night security duty (generally Sprig, nowadays)._

_This evening, however, was far from typical._

_A buzz and a crackle sounded in the air of the break room._

_Seconds later, Sans appeared out of thin air, rubbing his eye socket in pain. He glanced around the room, checking to see if he was alone._

_It hadn’t been long at all since he’d jumped from here. Mere minutes. Owel probably hadn’t reached Val, yet. The doc probably hadn’t even gone to the King, yet - if he was thinking of doing that so soon._

_The younger skeleton massaged his eye socket as he approached the door._

_On one hand, he’d abided by Owel’s wishes. He’d had to make a pit stop at home to pick something up, after all._

_But he hadn’t stayed. He hadn’t even taken off his lab coat, yet._

_He wouldn’t sit aside and do nothing._

_Sans peered around the corner, cautious._

_No sign of anybody. Not Sprig, not Gaster..._

_... and no Gaster Blasters in sight._

_The skeleton glanced down at the tiles, eyes narrowed._

_Sans wanted to believe that the Gaster wasn’t the violent type. He couldn’t be possibly be the type to have a high LV. But the doctor had built the very first Blaster before all this had begun…_

_And everything right now was being called into question._

_The doctor’s sanity. His crew’s safety. How dangerous the situation could be._

_So - Sans had decided to take action._

_He would try to **remove** the danger._

_He needed to help, somehow. No matter what everyone else thought. If Owel and everyone else was so worried about him, then he’d just work in the shadows. Nobody had to know he was around._

_Sans frowned._

_They’d already done so much for him. He was a part of the team, too._

_... He needed to pull his weight._

_The skeleton peered around the corner. Glancing up at the camera, he grimaced and darted down the hall._

_On his initial trip to the security monitor room to switch off the recording footage, he’d found Sprig passed out at the controls. Initially worried that he’d fallen ill, Sans realized that in the wake of obsessing over the night time footage, the blue monster was simply in dire need of sleep._

_It worked out for him. The younger skeleton had reached over and switched off the camera feed for now. There was nothing to stop Sprig from switching them back on when he woke up. Maybe he’d be caught later - but for now, he didn’t need to worry about being stopped._

_Not like anyone could stop him, anyway._

_Besides, in spite of Sprig’s best efforts, the signal was still pretty bad in the area he needed to go._

_Ducking behind a corner, Sans summoned the Underground Nexus map from his inventory, and unfurled it before him. He’d quickly fetched it from his home - popping in and out of the house as quickly as he could (he hadn’t even had a chance to say hi to Papyrus)._

_Sans wasn’t familiar with the route he was about to take, after all._

_The rifts that led to the lower Facility were all crossed out. Forbidden. Val and Gaster had made a point for Sans to not go down there - and after the skeleton’s last encounter with the Blaster, he’d agreed._

_The skeleton’s eyes narrowed._

_But, well, it wasn’t exactly like he having the best track record lately._

_Sans glanced about, rolling up the map._

_Then, he activated his eye, and the rifts appeared around him, once more._

_Sans stepped through, plunging through the darkness. The rifts of light swept past him as darted onwards._

_His gaze landed on a specific exit. It was a rift that he’d used only once, before._

_It would be the first time he’d used this one_ **_intentionally_** _._

_Sans charged through, skidding to a stop as he returned to reality._

_His eye sockets grew wide._

_The skeleton was back in the chamber he’d first fallen into by accident, all those months ago. The same chamber that he’d first encountered the singular Blaster that hung from the ceiling._

_The interior had changed. The walls that were once padded with old, obsolete machinery seemed to have expanded. Sans wondered if the room had been refurbished, or if a mechanism had simply reshaped the walls._

_There were several huge, semicircular metal shelves curving convex before him. Looking up, they seemed to go on for a fair few rows._

_He drew in a shaking breath._

_They were filled with Gaster Blasters._

_It looked like there were… fifteen. They were large, even bigger than Sans himself. They took up a lot of the space on the shelves. Each one had a tube connecting from one eye socket up to a central point in the ceiling - from which the original Gaster Blaster had hung._

_Sans swallowed, dryly._

_… there’d been eight last time they’d all checked on the security monitor._ **_Eight_ ** _. How many had he planned on making?_

 _He stepped back, trembling. He remembered how hesitant Gaster had been on even mentioning the single, old Blaster in the bottom of the facility. Now… the doctor had created an entire platoon, and seemed so_ **_proud._**

_Sans gritted his teeth, scanning the shelves. Then, he blinked._

_There was a gap. One Blaster wasn’t present in its docking station._

_The doc must have been testing them one by one. Making sure they got used to their surroundings, as usual._

_He took a step forward, observing them closely._

_**This** was what the doc had been working on all this time. _

_A silent rage brewed in his chest._

_Maybe Gaster was right to be prepared against humanity - nobody knew what they were up against when they got to the surface, after all._

_… but Sans couldn’t help but think of Reno, shaking uncontrollably every time Gaster was mentioned. He couldn’t help but think of Val, silent and somber. He couldn’t help but think of seeing Sprig collapsed in the monitor room, fast asleep and overtired. He couldn’t help but think of Owel, who was overworked and dismissed._

_The skeleton looked up at the deactivated weapons._

_There was no backing out of this, now. Time to do what he’d decided on doing - regardless if there were more here than he’d expected._

_Slowly, he stepped forward, towards the closest Gaster Blaster. His hand rose, cautiously - reaching out towards it._

_It was a weapon._

_It wasn’t made of magic. It wasn’t a form of energy._

_A weapon was an_ **_item._**

_Sans paused, feet away from the monstrous skull._

_A flicker of white appeared within its eye socket - and formed a ring of white, focusing directly on him. Sans lost all hesitation, and gestured upwards, focusing hard on the object._

_It was an item._

_And items could be_ **_taken._**

_He dismissed the weapon into his inventory, in a flash of white._

_The skeleton withdrew as its connecting tube swung forward, no longer attached to an eyesocket. He hurriedly glanced about at the other weapons. They were still - they hadn’t seemed to notice that one of them was missing._

_Would they notice eventually? Did they simply not care?_

_Sans wasn’t going to wait long enough to know the answer._

_He summoned the Nexus map from his inventory and placed it in his coat pocket. He needed as much space as he could get._

_Sans focused, raising his arms._

_He gestured upwards._

_The bottom row of Blasters vanished into his inventory. He stepped back as the tubes that were formerly connected to them swung forward, their ends crackling with magical energy._

_He reach out for the second row of Blasters. Then the third._

_Soon, the shelves were empty._

_The crackling of the dangling tubes were all that sounded. The room flickered with their light, and he stepped back further, his breathing growing shaky and his arms lowering to his sides._

_The weight of the situation sank in._

_He’d stolen the doctor’s entire long-term arsenal project._

_A mix of things ran through his mind. At least this way - if the doctor wasn’t in his right mind - he wouldn’t have access to fifteen weapons that were coded to his commands. Sans had them out of the doctor’s reach, now._

_The skeleton glared at the empty shelves in silence._

_Besides. If the doc was going to treat everyone like dirt, then maybe **this** would teach him a lesson. _

_He wouldn’t give them back until Gaster had gone back to normal. The doc wouldn't know where they'd gone._

_Sans gave a heavy sigh._

_The danger was gone. Everyone was safe._

_A frown appeared on his features._

_... but he wasn't satisfied._

_Sans didn’t know what the doc was thinking. He didn’t know why he’d changed so quickly, why he'd started acting so cold._

_He stared up at the empty shelves for a few moments._

_... there had to be a reason why all this had started happening. People didn't just... change, did they? Not like this. Not without cause._

_..._

_Maybe Sans could find out that cause._

_His eyesockets grew wide._

_Gaster’s office. Maybe **that** place had some more answers. It was where he stored his notes, after all - surely, some weren't written in that strange cipher!_

_Giving one last look up at the empty shelves, Sans activated his eye socket once more. He leapt up into the next rift, feeling a small amount of guilt at recalling exactly where Gaster’s office was amongst the spacetime tears._

_He’d traversed this route a few times, now._

_As he stepped back, Sans noted that Gaster’s office was cast into darkness for the most part. The only light source was the CORE chamber itself, displayed beyond the reinforced window that was situated behind the doctor’s desk._

_The shadows were stark black against the tiled floor. A stack of papers were steadily growing upon the doctor’s desk top._

_He flipped through the uppermost stack for a moment, blinking. All coolant tests reports, sent by Owel, for the most part. They hadn’t been touched._

_The skeleton’s eyes narrowed._

_Sans marched around the desk, recalling when he’d come here last time. He’d grab the blueprints while he was here. They were the only things that he’d found last time that seemed to have any connection to the doctor’s current plans. He may not be able to decipher them, but maybe someone like Val knew what the cipher was…_

_Sans pulled the drawer open, and began to reach inside._

_He froze._

_… it was completely empty._

_Sans stood up, blinking. He tugged open the other drawers._

_They were untouched. Gaster had only removed the blueprints._

**_“I thought I told you not to make a habit out of using that rift.”_ **

_The young skeleton froze._

_He stood up straight to see Gaster, stepping into the office. The doctor nonchalantly closed his office door behind him, releasing the handle._

_A bead of sweat appeared upon Sans’ skull._

_“d… doc?”_

**_“Good evening, Sans.”_ **

_The older skeleton slowly walked over to one of his cabinets against the wall. He removed his lab coat, placing it on a hook near the door. In spite of his greeting, he hadn’t even looked at Sans at all since he’d entered the room._

_He seemed focused on something else._

_Swallowing, Sans took a step forward._

_“… doc, i-i can explain - ”_

**_“Explain what?”_ ** _Gaster asked, placing a key into the cabinet door._ **_“What needs to be explained?”_ **

_The younger skeleton blinked. The doctor’s expression was calm, and relaxed. He was simply focused on unlocking the cabinet door. The mechanism clicked, and he placed the key back into his inventory._

_“… you’re not mad?” Sans asked, carefully._

_… or did he just not care?_

**_“Owel sent you home, didn’t she?”_ ** _Gaster said, offhandedly as the cabinet swung open. He removed a small vial from the shelf, filled with a glowing liquid._ **_“Did you tell her that you had a change of plans?”_ **

_He inspected the vial closely as he spoke._

_Sans’ eyes narrowed. There was no Gaster Blaster hovering nearby, but that didn’t mean he could relax. It could be hidden away in his inventory, after all._

_He felt a little bolder._

_If Sans couldn’t figure out the doctor’s motives by snooping, then…_

_“doc…?”_

_There was no response. Gaster seemed preoccupied with whatever he was doing._

_“…you can’t go ahead with the test.” Sans said, stepping forward. “you... you know that, right?”_

_Gaster was silent, rotating the vial in his fingers, thoughtfully._

**_"I am curious to see the effects on the CORE."_ ** _He said._ **_"It may be useful for modifying the CORE's other properties. Whether it exacerbates or suppresses those properties, I am uncertain."_ **

_He shrugged._ **_"Even if we have no use for it as... say, a coolant... we may as well try to make a use out of it."_ **

_The younger skeleton blinked in confusion._

_"... but... but it **is** a coolant. that's what it was **made** for..." He said, blankly. "it's to keep the CORE stable... we all worked really hard to make it that way, doc."_

_**"Some things simply do not work out the way we intended, Sans."** Gaster said, softly. **"And when that happens... it pays to improvise, does it not?"**_

_Sans' eye sockets went dim._

_"... not with stuff like this, doc."_

_The older skeleton didn’t look at him, seemingly ignoring him completely._

_There was a silence._

_Within moments, anger had flared up in the younger skeleton’s chest._

_“doc, **not** with stuff like this!" He repeated, firmly._

_No response. Before he knew what he was doing, Sans had slammed a foot down onto the tiled floor._

 

_"don't you remember what happened **last** time?!"_

 

_That got his attention. The doctor glanced over to face him at last, blinking in mild surprise. Sans’ eye sockets had dimmed completely into black._

_“the past tests?_ _!” The younger skeleton yelled, gesturing outwards. “you were scarred! you nearly_ **_died_ ,** _doc!”_

 _Sans pointed at his own eye socket, activating it briefly for emphasis. “_ **_i_ ** _nearly got dusted! do you remember **that?!** do you **care?!** ”_

_Gaster was silent. The young skeleton turned away in frustration, gritting his teeth._

_“it_ _only had to make_ **_one_ ** _mistake, and then we were in_ **_danger!_ "** _The light returned to his sockets. “what do you think’s gonna happen if we just run a test like this?! just because **you** wanna see what happens?!”_

 _He shook his head. “_ _what if everyone_ **_else_ ** _gets hit by core radiation, doc?!”_

_Sans stared hard out the reinforced glass window out into the CORE chamber. The colours seemed to churn a little brighter than usual._

_A little more violently._

_“it was a stretch to save **me** , right? i was _ **_lucky.”_ ** _Sans muttered, staring hard at his reflection. The CORE light was only just illuminating his face - behind him was nothing but darkness._

_“you can’t go ahead with this. you can’t just keep ignoring everyone...”_

_Sans stared down hard at the tiles._

_“… you can't keep doing this." He muttered._

_There was the sound of something shattering._

_Sans blinked, and glanced back up at his reflection, startled to see a violet flame appearing behind him, reflected in the glass._

_He spun around._

_Gaster was only three feet away from him. He hadn’t seen him approach in the darkness. His expression was blank._

_Sans’ gaze was drawn down to the doctor’s hand. It was currently curled up into a fist, enveloped in crackling, violet energy that occasionally illuminated the room with its flickering._

_Sans blinked, taking a step back._

_“… what’s_ **_that?_ ** _” He asked, cautiously._

 

 

* * *

 

 

Papyrus couldn’t remember ever running so fast.

The steel corridor blurred around him. He felt his claws dig into the flat surface, mildly startled to feel them puncture  _through_ the steel floor the slightest bit.

He swallowed, preparing his large and strange body to put in the brakes as he approached a corner.

A good ten feet away from the turnoff, he dug his claws in deeply. The metal shrieked under his grip as he skidded to a brief stop, allowing his back legs to swing around to the right as he turned, preparing to dart in a new direction.

Papyrus had to rip his claws out the steel floor before could continue on.

Alright. He'd done well so far! He just needed to keep going! He was much faster, and much _heavier_ now... but he could do this!

The beastly skeleton had been increasingly accustomed to his new body, the more he'd climbed that cliff - the more he'd had to use each part of his new form. It didn't come naturally, but he'd begun to fall into some kind of instinctual stride. He'd begun to stop thinking of his limbs as 'arms and legs' and just 'four legs.' He was beginning to find his tail _very_ useful for keeping balance as he turned.

Papyrus growled, under his breath.

It was all so _strange_.

He could not depend on the friction of his cool, red boots. He could not depend on his usually-acrobatic finesse. He could not use his BLUE attack - he could not hold things with his hands. He could not speak.

So instead, he focused on what he _could_ do.

Though admittedly, he reached for things that were familiar to his normal form. He could still run. He could still jump - and much further than he used to be able to! 

And he focused entirely on staying coordinated. Two legs or four, he needed to stay in-control of his movements. He was graceful. Careful. He _had_ to be!

... Especially _now_.

He felt Frisk clutching his scarf as tightly as they possibly could. He almost tried to raise a forelimb to the back of his neck to check them, only to remind himself that was no longer physically possible. He chirped inquisitively, the sound muffled - and a small hand patted one of his horns in response.

Papyrus hoped they were secure enough back there - the last time Frisk had ridden on the back of his neck like this... was not the most pleasant of memories, after all.

The skeleton quickly dismissed the thought from his mind. Now wasn't the time to dwell on such things. He still needed to focus - there were still things to do.

But he could briefly recall the burning sensation in his throat. 

And in turn, his eyes darted down briefly to his second passenger.

Sans was still dangling helplessly from his jaws. He hadn’t spoken another word as they’d run. He'd sounded so angry - panicked. A tone of voice that Papyrus had not heard from him in a very long time. But now, he currently seemed too busy grasping at his head.

Papyrus could hear a small scraping noise, and trilled in alarm.

Sans was still...

He couldn't see him properly, but he knew that noise. 

Papyrus crooned, startled.

A moment or so passed, and the scraping sound ceased. He could see Sans' hands releasing his own skull with a shaky sigh.

_< SANS, PLEASE HOLD ON! WE'LL GET YOU SOMEWHERE SAFE, SOON!>_

His words were muffled, with his brother's hood clenched between his teeth. Nobody could understand him, anyway - but when his brother's arms fell limp to his sides, Papyrus liked to think that the message had gotten through... _somehow_.

His brother was getting worse. 

He'd understood that, the moment he'd laid eyes on him.

He hadn’t changed _physically_. That part was a relief - it seemed like he was managing to keep that part under control. He still looked the same as he had when he and Undyne had left the cavern.

Everything else, however…

Upon studying Sans closely, Papyrus had noted new claw marks on the side of his face and eye. He was shaking violently. His eye sockets were flickering with that horrid energy, and the calm and collected control his brother had displayed earlier was fading rapidly.

He'd been pushed to his limit. And as much as Papyrus wanted to believe that he could pull through this exhaustion, he wasn't sure how much longer Sans would last. Not without help, at least.

Papyrus crooned again, glancing down at his brother as he seemed to curl further in on himself.

There were new tears in his pockets. In his hood (though, Papyrus was currently contributing to that, himself). This illness was affecting Sans worse and _worse_.

Papyrus growled.

If Sans couldn't handle it - then they would help! They would all do their best to protect Sans, no matter what! They would get him out of this awful place - keep him far away from Gaster! Miles away! _Light years away!_

As the reached a corner, Papyrus dug his claws into the steel, banking hard from the force. The screeching metal echoed around the halls, but he paid little heed to it - instead, focusing on a long walkway that had popped up before him, and two paths that stretched off to his left and right.

He paused in his tracks, giving a startled whine as he spotted his own claw marks lining the steel floor before him. He glanced back the way he came, then looked left and right at the junction he'd arrived at.

 _< OH, FUSILLI!>  _Papyrus groaned.

He’d gone in a loop! His claw marks were everywhere - he couldn't tell where he'd come from! 

So much for being light years away. He was not familiar with the CORE layout at all - for all he knew, someone was rearranging the corridors into nonsensical patterns, like some old, labyrinthian puzzle! (something he would have appreciated under any other circumstance). Everything in this strange building looked the same to him…

He glanced around, the telltale hum of energy spears echoing down the corridor to his right. He automatically turned away from the sound, though glanced back over his shoulder down the corridor.

Papyrus gave a low whine.

Undyne was fighting Gaster.

 _Again_.

"She must've been separated from Sans..." He heard Frisk from atop his neck. His brother remained silent, but Papyrus could feel the older skeleton turn his head back in the direction from which they'd come. 

Papyrus could hear her battle cries - he could hear the doctor's screams of anger.

The beastly skeleton's pace slowed, and he gave a low growl.

He wanted to rush back to help his friend. He wanted to support Undyne, but... 

He swallowed, recalling the sight of his brother as nothing more than a huge, monstrous skull - and suddenly, his pace quickened into longer strides with a decisive huff.

He needed to avoid the fighting... He needed to stay away from Gaster, after all.

Undyne would be okay!

She was strong - incredibly strong! But she'd been fighting for a very long time. She'd been protecting the both of them - making sure that neither Sans nor Papyrus would fall into Gaster's hands. 

The beastly skeleton hoped that the captain would not have to protect them for much longer...

“Papyrus, wait!”

The beastly skeleton looked up over his shoulder at his passenger. Frisk seemed to have taken note of the navigational dilemma, too.

“I don't think we've gone left, yet!” They said, looking at the next turnoff. "I don't remember seeing those black screens on the wall!"

The skeleton blinked at the screens, trilling in thought. He realized there were no clawmarks on the floor beneath them. It wasn't a path he'd taken, before - but it sounded like he was getting further away from the fighting, at least!

He charged in the indicated direction. The rooms were confusing, going from narrow and cramped corridors to long walkways suspended over deep chasms and towers. Papyrus had never been that opposed to heights - but considering he was without his bone and SOUL magic, he was more than a little nervous every time they had to traverse a long, narrow and rail-less walkway.

He turned a corner, skidding to a stop as the path ended, the narrow corridor opening up into a large space.

Speak of the devil!

It was _another_ rail-less walkway - adjacent to a massive chasm.

Papyrus groaned at the sight of it (there were bottomless pits _everywhere_! Surely, whoever built this place needed to be mindful of everyone’s safety!) He could see the water channels of the CORE coolant system far below, glimmering slightly in the dim light. He'd never seen this place without thick mist, before... he hadn't quite understood how high up these walkways were, before.

Four tall, mechanical columns, occasionally glimmering with flickering red lights in their circuitry, rose all the way up from the depths of the chasm. Their tops were around face-level with Papyrus.

But that wasn’t what had suddenly gained the beastly skeleton’s attention.

Beyond those towers, and about 20 feet away from their position, there was another rail-less walkway.

Papyrus' eye sockets grew wide.

Undyne and Gaster were currently fighting upon it.

The beastly skeleton let out a bark, startled at the sight of them. He was certain the noise from their fight had been coming from the other direction! (What was wrong with the acoustics in this place?)

He peered closer at the two monsters. Undyne had received a swipe across her face, causing her eye patch to fall free. There were several swipes on her upper arms. A defiant and fierce grin was plastered across her face as she hurled another barrage of spears at the doctor, their teal energy crackling and lighting up their surroundings.

She was injured - but still going strong.

Undyne's eye grew wide and she dodged out of the way of a long, stretching, tarlike arm that had stretched out from the doctor's position. Startled, the beastly skeleton glanced over at her opponent, moving slowly... and _strangely_...

Papyrus’ eye sockets grew wide at the sight of Gaster, who suddenly broke into a charge, evading the spears with unnatural speed. His mouth seemed to split his skull apart in a roar as he thrust one, two... _three_ arms forward towards Undyne, who raised a wall of spears to counter his attack.

The beastly skeleton froze.

… the doctor seemed to have developed quite a condition. Where had all those extra arms come from?

How on Earth was he using them to _walk?!_

A flicker of blue caught his eye, and Papyrus glanced down at his brother, still gripped in his jaws by his hood. He was starting to clutch at his skull again, and the beastly skeleton realized that he was reacting to the sight of Gaster.

Papyrus gave another low croon, in the hopes of reassuring Sans, before beginning to back up from the fight. He needed to keep moving! He needed to find the exit, before -

**_“YOU.”_ **

Papyrus froze.

The voice almost paralysed him. He'd heard it so many times before - remembered how badly it had seemed to constrict him on the spot.

He looked up at Gaster.

The doctor had suddenly paused in his onslaught. The flickering of Sans’ eye sockets had directed his attention - however, it was Papyrus who’d kept it.

The beastly skeleton stepped back, a bead of sweat appearing on his skull. Here he was. In Blaster form, and trapped as such. 

...

Papyrus did _not_ like the smile that was appearing upon the doctor’s features.

 

**_PING-G._ **

 

Gaster’s smile vanished, and Papyrus was startled out of his trance.

In the doctor's moment of distraction, Undyne had swiped his SOUL with a green attack.

Gaster was locked in place. A snarl appeared on his features as a shield materialised upon one of his many arms. Papyrus could not tell which ones originally belonged to the doctor in the first place...

Undyne spun to face the trio from across the way. Her eye was wide in surprise, initially, but the skeleton could feel her anger radiating all the way from across the chasm. Her challenging smile had become a snarl, and Papyrus suddenly felt very small.

She cupped her hands around her mouth, her eye blazing.

“PAPYRUS! WHAT THE _HELL_ ARE YOU DOING -  ”

A loud shriek cut her off.

Two of Gaster’s arms stretched out from his stationary position and grabbed her by the arm and leg. She pulled away with a yell, causing the arms to go limp - but several more rushed forth, grabbing her by the shoulders and wrists. 

With an enraged cry, she summoned several spears, bringing them down on the doctor's distorted body. His shielded arm whipped around and blocked the attack - the spears fizzling out of existence upon colliding with the green barrier.

Her eye grew wide. He smiled back.

**_“THINK FAST.”_ **

Gaster lifted the captain high in the air, before hurling her straight _down_ into the abyss with the force of each one of his arms.

She vanished noiselessly from sight, into the darkness.

Papyrus shrieked after her in horror, rushing up to the very edge of the platform.

 _“UNDYNE!”_ Frisk cried.

There was a loud crackle. A hum of energy echoed throughout the abyss as Undyne summoned a spear in midair, lighting her darkened surroundings.

She slammed it into the side of one of the electronic columns, skidding down a fair way due to the smooth surface. She slowed to a stop, dangling from the spear handle with one hand.

Undyne stared down at the abyss for a few moments, before staring upwards at Gaster. Her face formed a snarl as his shield dissolved off of his arm.

The Blaster suddenly withdrew from the chasm, eye sockets growing wide. She was too far away to hold up the spell.

Gaster’s eyes landed on Papyrus.

The beastly skeleton stared back.

With a running start, Gaster leapt clean off of the walkway.

The multitude of arms sticking out of his back suddenly twitched to life. Two stretched outwards, finding purchase on the electronic columns between the walkways. In a spiderlike motion, he manoeuvred from tower to tower - directly towards the trio’s position.

Papyrus reeled back, startled at the doctor’s new ability. Immediately, he charged off to the left. He needed to put as _much_ space between himself and Gaster as he could! But he could already hear the bony hands clicking across the steel floor, and fast approaching.

His thoughts switched to his friend.

Undyne was okay, he told himself. She’d make it out okay... she'd been through worse.

Papyrus just needed to hurry - he needed to get them all to safety! He needed to keep his brother out of Gaster's hands!

As Papyrus burst out of the corridor onto another railed walkway, he made a beeline for the other side. Unlike the rest of the labyrinth, this corridor seemed to go onwards a very long way. He could glimpse turnoffs, but he could spy his own claw marks littering the floor before him. He'd been here before - surely he couldn’t be far from the exit, now!

As he dashed over the narrow bridge, a flicker of white caught his eye.

Something in the darkness of the chasm had materialised to his side. Papyrus blinked, as it trailed after him - slowly at first, but undoubtedly coming closer...

…Two white rings.

A monstrous skull with several fractures across its face suddenly shot upwards from the darkness to face Papyrus at level, light surging to its maw.

It was Blaster he'd swept into the chasm, earlier. 

Papyrus' eye sockets grew wide.

It hadn't gone down, after all.

The beast accelerated in panic, but let out a startled yowl as the laser blast skimmed past his upper shoulder. It singed his neck spines, scorched through his scarf.

He felt it fall off.

A scream sounded.

There was a brief and horrible moment when Papyrus could no longer feel Frisk's weight on the back of his neck. He spun his neck to the left to see the human falling, to attempt to grab them with his jaws - only to realise that his mouth was already full.

_**PING!** _

Frisk's cry was cut short, as if they'd been jerked in the air. 

Papyrus realized that Sans’ arm was outstretched. Frisk was suspended in the air, still grasping the tattered remains of Papyrus’ scarf, their SOUL coloured blue. They stared back at the smaller skeleton, eyes wide in concern.

_"S-Sans?!"_

The moment of relief didn’t last long. Reaching the end of the walkway and heading into the corridor, Papyrus swerved out of the way of a second blast - but underestimating his weight, he felt his claws slip against the surface of the steel floor. He yelped as he collided hard against the wall.

Sans went flying from his jaws, along with the suspended Frisk.

The BLUE effect left the human's SOUL, and they both hit the ground about ten feet away, rolling from the impact.

The beastly skeleton staggered to his feet, shaking himself out with a groan. He stared over at Sans and Frisk, who were managing to stand. Relieved that they seemed to be okay, he was startled when the human glanced up at him, their expression becoming one of horror.

_“PAPYRUS!”_

He saw a flash of blackness from the side.

He heard Sans yell out to him.

He felt a skeletal hand slam directly into the centre of his forehead.

 

 

* * *

 

_Pain travelled outwards from his sternum._

_The room was enveloped in a violet light, as Sans gave a silent scream. The energy crackled mercilessly around him, even when Gaster decisively yanked his hand away from the young skeleton’s chest._

_Sans staggered back, and collapsed hard against the wall. He felt dazed. The pain was ebbing away, slightly, but he could feel the energy still buzzing and crackling around his body._

_The violet energy began to fade, and Sans took in a shuddering gasp._

_“what… did you…?”_

_Another violet glow appeared out of the corner of his eye. Initially fearing it was another one of those vials, the young skeleton looked up to see that Gaster had activated his eyesockets._

_Yet instead of alternating between violet and green as they usually did, they remained steadfastly violet._

_They were boring down on him._

**_“Do you think I’m a fool_ _, Sans?”_** _He asked, coldly._

_The younger skeleton staggered to his feet, wide-eyed. He’d never heard the doctor use that tone of voice, before._

_“d… d-doc?”_

_**_“Did you think you were being subtle? Clever?”_** Gaster asked, raising an eyebrow._

_Sans’ sternum grew tight. The doctor tapped his own eyesocket._

**_“I sensed much activity in several rifts that I_ distinctly _recalled crossing out on that map.”_** _He gestured to the rolled-up paper in Sans’ lab coat pocket._ **_“One of which… no more than a few minutes ago.”_ **

_The younger skeleton took a step back, breathing shakily. The world seemed to swirl around him a little. He felt off-balance. Unsteady._

_He wasn't quite sure if it was from panic, or... from whatever had been in that attack._

_The younger skeleton stared up at the doctor. In this lighting, without his white lab coat, he almost looked like a spectre. His eye sockets no longer seemed to radiate indifference._

_They looked hollow._

**_“Did you believe you were_ above _consequence?”_**

_There was the sound of something cracking._

_A splitting pain suddenly travelled down the side of Sans’ skull. He grasped at it, flinching._

_And froze._

_Sans’ hands travelled over his face._

_His head…_

_It was shifting. Spikes were rising out of the back of his skull. A throbbing pain travelled up between his eyes, and he crumpled to the floor, grasping at his forehead with a groan._

_There was a crack there. Rising further and further up his forehead…_

_… was his skull splitting in **half**?_

_Sans spotted a movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up, realising that Gaster had knelt to face him. With a sharp exhale, Sans stumbled back against the glass window, wide-eyed - only for the cracking sounds from his skull to become worryingly louder. He traced the crack up between his eyes, eyes darting to the floor as his thoughts raced._ ****

_Something was horribly wrong._

_“what’s… what was_ **_in_ ** _that thing?” He whispered, the throbbing in his skull getting worse._

_Gaster did not reply. He simply stared, not so unlike the way he observed a test over Owel's shoulder. Not so unlike the way he observed the CORE fragment, in the old days._

_The younger skeleton flinched in pain once more, curling in on himself. He thought to move - thought to leave, but his head was heavy with dizziness. He felt his SOUL thrum uncomfortably within his ribcage, churning in pain. He slowly sank to the ground._

**_"... perhaps I should be writing this down."_ ** _Sans_ _heard Gaster mutter. He saw a movement out of the corner of his eyesocket, as the doctor stepped back from him and moved to his desk._

_The younger skeleton groaned, gritting his teeth and lowering his head to the floor. The tiles felt cool against his skull, but the air seemed to crackle around him. His hearing and vision were dulled, and for a few moments, Sans thought he was about to pass out from the sheer dizziness. But he stubbornly shook his head._

  _He needed to leave. Get help. He pushed himself back up, onto his shaking hands and knees._

_Sans’ vision blurred back into focus. He was staring down at the tiles, his reflection warped upon their surface._

**_“Subject is still conscious."_**

_Gaster's voice sounded distant, even though the younger skeleton could see him standing right next to his desk. But before Sans could turn on the doctor, he was suddenly much more concerned with his own reflection._

_The young skeleton blinked, suddenly squinting hard at his own image. Blinking, his hand rose to his mouth._

**_“Then again, he has always possessed a strange kind of luck.”_ **

_His grew wide, as he traced the new and unfamiliar shape of his teeth. Hurriedly, he staggered to his feet - finding a hold on the windowsill and pulling himself up to face the CORE chamber, once more._

_He stared hard at his reflection in the reinforced glass, his panic rising._

_His **face**._

_Sans’ normal visage was starting to fade, his face framed by sharp, jagged edges and horns that were growing steadily longer and defined. His face was pushing outwards slightly. Where his normal blunt teeth where before, there were now canines -  and the rest of his teeth were following suit in a menacing and pointed manner._

_He drew in a shaking breath, running his hands over his changing features. A familiar, yet unnerving image came to mind, the more he stared at his reflection._

_“no… no no no…”_

_Sans looked like a Gaster Blaster._

_His face, his skull - he was starting to look_ **_exactly_ ** _like one of the doctor’s horrible creations._

_Sans’ breathing was growing shaky, as he backed away from his own reflection, his hands lowering from his face._

_**"Still conscious. And aware."** _ _  
_

_Gaster was glancing at him, offhandedly, before looking back down at his desk. He was scrawling something out - something in the same, strange symbols that Sans had seen in the blueprints. A small bit of fury began to well up within him, and despite the dizziness, Sans rushed up to the doctor's desk, slamming his hands on top of the paper upon which he wrote._

_“doc… doc, you gotta change me **back**!” He yelled at Gaster, who glanced back up at him, curiously. “this isn’t _ **_funny!_ ** _”_

 **_“Change you back?”_ ** _The doctor asked, blinking._ **_“You’ve barely started.”_ **

_Sans froze, his eyesockets growing wide in horror._

_“wh… what?”_

_The smaller skeleton suddenly felt a pressure in his fingertips. He withdrew his hands from the desk, startled to see scrapes left behind upon the wood. He rotated his hands upwards, watching as small claws steadily grew longer and longer._

_The changes were speeding up. Spikes were forcing their way out the back of his arms, though his sleeves. Blue energy was crackling around him._

**_"Physical changes are accelerating."_**   _Muttered the doctor. Then, he paused, placing down his pen in thought as one of his extra hands suddenly materialised over his shoulder._

 _**"... though, there's something else I ought to check."** _ _Gaster added, slowly making his way around the desk._

_Sans gritted his sharpening teeth and stepped back from him, head low. The younger skeleton's stance was wide - his shoulders hunched. Hands clawing. It didn't register to him that he was doing it - it just made him feel stronger._

_Safer._

_“owel’s gonna hear about this!" Sans yelled. **"everyone** will! they'll see me and - ”_

_And then, just like that, a sudden blankness surged through his mind._

_His fear was washed away. His anger dissolved. For a few moments, he didn’t know what was happening. He’d forgotten his name. He’d forgotten where he was, what he was doing. His memories had been completely purged from his mind._

_A peaceful nothingness had overtaken him…_

_… and then, Sans’ mind came rushing back in an almost unpleasant flurry of panic._

_Gasping, he stumbled back against the cabinets, causing their contents to rattle. Gaster’s floating hand was outstretched before him. The doctor blinked, and withdrew it back up to hover at his shoulder. A small smirk appeared upon his features._

**_“Response is promising.”_ ** _The doctor observed, turning back to his desk and rotating the page to face him from the other side._ ** _“... the override seems to be coming into effect.”_ **

_Fear spiked in Sans’ chest, as he felt himself grow heavier. The blue energy crackled around him more insistently, and he grasped at his sides and doubled over, a strange noise trilling from the back of his throat._

_…What had just happened?_

_All the doctor had done was reach out towards him - and then, every thought he’d had was obliterated in mere seconds. Every memory had been washed out of his mind._

_It was as if he’d just…_

_… **disappeared**._

_Sans’ soul turned to ice._

_He began to realise_ **_exactly_ ** _how much danger he was in._

_The younger skeleton shook his head, drawing in one shaking breath after another._

_No. Stay calm. Think. He had to think!_

_Owel. Reno, Val, Sprig - he needed to get to them. He needed to get help!_

_"... they'll f-find me..." Sans whispered, his voice tinged with a strange trill. "i'll... tell them... i'll tell..."_

_Gaster turned to look at him over his shoulder. His expression was placid, thoughtful._

**_“… I doubt you’ll be able to say anything to anyone when this is said and done.”_ ** _He said, carefully._ **_“And I sincerely doubt anyone will tell you apart from the rest of the platoon.”_ **

  _The blue energy crackled more violently around him as the changes began to accelerate, once more. He grasped at his head, a low whine escaping him as he realized that he could not feel anything familiar about his skull at all._

_Immediately, he activated his eye socket._

_The rift beside Gaster’s desk came into view, and he made to run towards it._

_Something was wrong the moment he stepped forward. His legs - his **feet** \- felt strange to him. He fell forward hard onto the tiles with a cry._

_Sans felt himself being picked up by the back of his lab coat, and thrown across the room, against the office door. He hit the door back-first, letting out a mangled yowl as pain jolted through his spine. Sinking to the floor, dazed, he saw the doctor step in front of the rift, his eyesockets glowing with violet. His floating hands hovered nearby, dusting themselves off._

**_“That's enough.”_ **

_Sans’ eyes shut tight in pain, as he felt something force its way out of his vertebrae. He could hear his coat ripping, and he doubled over, clutching at his middle._

**_Everything_ ** _was hurting, now. He felt his bones crunch and crack, and he threw a hand out upon the ground to steady himself._

 ** _"Changes do accelerate upon panic."_**  _The doctor's voice sounded distant. He'd turned away from him to write some more on his desk, and Sans slowly tried to crawl forward towards the rift, eyesocket still activated. However, moments later he found himself collapsing onto his side with a groan, feeling the strain on his eyesocket vanish. The rift disappeared from sight. Sans could not keep focus, anymore._

_He was cornered. He was trapped._

_His body was becoming something horrible and alien to him. His mind - his own mind was starting to slip. In the throngs of panic, things were fogging over. Things were **missing**. He wasn't sure what - but he felt their absence, and that terrified him the most._

_“w H Y…?” A voice that Sans did not recognise rose from his own throat._

_After a moment, he heard Gaster approach. He s_ _tared up at the approaching scientist. He was a silhouette of black against the violently-churning CORE, violet lights within his cracked sockets._

 

 **_“We spoke of 'improvising' before, didn't we?"_** _The doctor_ _said, curtly._ **_“Making use of an unfortunate circumstance."_**

 

_The younger skeleton managed to stand, rolling his weight forward onto the clawed toes that had torn out of his sneakers. He was startled at how tall he was getting - he was almost face-to-face with the doctor himself. But he didn’t feel any more secure - in fact, he wanted nothing more than to curl into a small ball and **hide**._

_**"All of our actions have consequences, Sans. The best thing we can do is... amend for them."** _

_The younger skeleton fought to stay upright, struggled to face Gaster, as he crossed his arms. He seemed to be deep in thought, his gaze darting about, slightly._

_**"Take my example. I allowed a thief into my ranks. I foolishly handed him the tools to do much harm."** _ _He gestured to the Underground Nexus Map, which lay upon the tiled floor. It had fallen out of Sans' pocket when the young monster had been hurled across the room. "_ **_He chose to use his powers for his own... selfish gains._ ** _**He threw his consideration for others out of the window."** _

_Gaster tilted his head._

**_“So, I am simply putting him on a leash.”_**

_****A strained growl sounded from Sans’ new jaws, his bones rattling slightly in both pain and fear. But somehow... paralysed._

_He had to run._

_Just -_ **_run_** _._

_He had to run! Something was very, very wrong with him - he had to leave!_

_He had to call for help. He could teleport, couldn’t he? He just - needed to find a rift…_

**_“And now, I will use his abilities far more nobly than he ever did."_**

_The doctor’s voice suddenly obliterated his thought processes, and the beastly skeleton snarled in terror, grasping his head. Sans did not think to activate his eyesocket. He did not think to run._

**_“It really is a shame.”_ ** _The doctor’s eyebrows raised._ **_“You were a new perspective, Sans. You had much honesty. Ambition. Your frankness about things was… refreshing.”_ **

_Gaster tilted his head, his eye sockets lighting up with violet._

**_“I simply have no use for_ any _of those things, right now.”_ **

_Sans staggered back, grasping at his head. He drew in one wheezing breath after the next. He wanted to talk back - to call Gaster a maniac. Nothing he said could justify this. Nothing he did could justify this!_

_But Sans couldn’t speak. His throat felt constricted. It wasn’t pain that was keeping him from talking, nor was it the change._

_His bravado had vanished. His voice was caught in his throat. He couldn’t even look directly at the older skeleton. He was trembling violently, more things beginning to slip from his mind._

_… why was he so scared? Why was it getting so hard to think?_

_What was happening to him?_

_Sans managed to dig into whatever strength he had left. He drew in a breath, and tried to call for help._

_A beastly screech made its way out of the younger skeleton’s mouth in its place._

_His eyes grew wide, and he grasped at his throat._

_Sans’ voice was gone. His body was vanishing. He knew that he wasn’t thinking straight._

_In a mad rush of panic, Sans hurled himself against the office door with all his might._

_…Had to leave… had to get_ **_out_ ** _…_

_His increasing weight and strength caused it to fly off of its hinges. Sans fell hard onto the tiled floor, feeling his body become more and more unfamiliar. He tried to stand - he wanted to stand. He wanted to run._

_But the more he tried to crawl, the more he tried to push himself back up on his own two feet, the more he realized that his body was no longer capable of doing such a thing._

_He froze._

_He couldn’t stand. He couldn’t run (… he had a_ **_tail_ ** _, now…)._

_He needed to escape… He needed help… needed to…_

_Sans shook his head to try clearing his fogged-up mind, a low growl escaping him._

_… a tear. He needed a_ **_rift_ ** _\- he needed to focus! He needed to find a rift and…_

_Sans felt a presence to his left. He turned his head to look up at the doctor, wide-eyed. Gaster was expressionless, his pupils shrinking into pinpricks. His gaze bore into the young skeleton’s own eyesockets._

_Gaster reached out towards him._

_And for the very first time, Sans felt absolutely paralysed under his stare._

_The changes began to cascade through his form. He felt pain rip throughout his entire body._

_He felt his bones rip and crack and felt spikes tear through them. He felt his marrow burn. His sternum constricted. He couldn’t make any sound in response._

_Sans knew he was becoming too heavy. He knew he was becoming too large - some kind of strange and terrible force was ripping itself clean out of his bones. His arms, legs, hands and feet - even his teeth - none of them were meant to feel like this._

_He wasn’t meant to be like this…_

_Gaster was silent a moment. Then, he summoned one of his extra hands to his right, tilting his head._

**_“Trial number one.”_ **

_The floating hand rushed forward, slamming directly into the middle of the creature’s forehead._

**_“Jump.”_ ** _He commanded._

_Sans’ mind went blank._


	20. A Fracture

_Streaks of light surrounded him as he was pulled through the darkness._  
****

_The Nexus map fluttered in his grasp as the Gaster Blaster dove towards a rift of white. What remained of its body was disintegrating away in white, square particles that seemed to drift away with the motion._

_A smile cracked across his features as he felt himself being pulled along into the white rift - and pulled_ **_through_ ** _it._

_And Gaster stepped onto the tiles of the upper CORE Facility halls._

_He glanced over his shoulder, activating his eye sockets with an amused smile. He looked down at his hand, and the rest of his body, examining it thoughtfully._

_He was intact. The rift had not affected him in the slightest._

**_“…Trial successful.”_ ** _He said, eyebrows raised._

_Gaster dismissed the Underground Nexus map back into his inventory. He turned to his new tool as he deactivated his eyesockets._

_The Blaster that had once been Sans hovered there in silence._

_His functionality was intact. Gaster had initially feared that the young skeleton’s magical abilities would be forfeit, upon applying the mutagen._ _He had reshaped the properties of his old student’s SOUL, after all._ _And the magic that projected from one’s SOUL would be affected in turn. Gaster doubted that any of Sans’ old magical abilities could be used in this state._

_But the CORE element within the skeleton was an anomaly._

_A different factor entirely, imposed on the SOUL itself. The element remained within it, unaffected - and usable._

_Gaster sighed, glancing around. He should have brought his notes. He should have continued to record the effects of the mutagen that he’d manufactured. All things considered, the doctor was pleasantly surprised that he’d been so successful._

_There were many things that could have gone wrong, after all._

_Gaster's eyes narrowed._

  _The doctor was not a lucky man. His life was riddled with misfortune, in one way or another._

_He'd become complacent and careful as the years had gone on. He'd focused on every way things could go wrong, and attempt to avert catastrophe. For his benefit, and the benefit of others._

_He'd write things down for next time._

_... but even still, things barely turned out as he'd hoped._

  _It wasn't all that long ago when he wondered if things really had to **be** that way._

_Gaster's eyes closed._

 

_All it had taken was one more mistake._

 

_And after that, a **lot** of things had opened up to him._

  _Violet crackled in his eye sockets._

_If his earlier precautions had been in vain, then... what was the point of keeping them in place? What was the point in inhibiting his curiosity?_

_If things had to go wrong, then... what was the point of holding himself back?_

_Why couldn't he take back what was constantly asked of him?_

  _Gaster's gaze was drawn to Sans._

 

_... Why couldn't he have some semblance of control over anything at all?_

 

_With a snort, he turned away. He supposed that was the appeal of the Gaster Blasters in the first place. Things that were of his own creation - that depended on him, relied on him._

_They worked in his best interests, and he worked in theirs. They were all factors he could **control,** in the chaos of routine. _

_In the wake of his own crew becoming increasingly... disagreeable, the doctor could appreciate that._

_His former student had given him a new perspective in more ways than one. A variant of the after-effects of the CORE energy. A way to **harness** that ability. An ability that could prove useful... beneficial - moreso than constantly being jerked back in time again, and again, and again..._  

_Gaster peered at the monstrous skull, thoughtfully. Already, he noted a few minor variations from his regular manufactured Blasters._

_The first real difference was that it was smaller._

_Not by much. Gaster wondered if it had anything to do with age. The floating skull’s appearance was mostly standard for the rest of his arsenal. The spikes and horns were arranged in a similar manner - but there were a few distinct features reminiscent of who the weapon once was._

_He gestured towards himself, and the Gaster Blaster trailed after him obediently. The doctor felt the traces of his own magical signature emanating from the weapon, and smiled._

_The end result of Sans' CORE ability, unfortunately, was yet another mistake he'd had to fix._

_But in doing so, he'd gained something._

_Instead of shying away, Gaster had persevered - taken a different path._

_And now, he had something that... was **his.**_

_In the chaos of everything, he finally had something else that he could have **control** over._

_Gaster had made a mistake. **Many** mistakes. For the brilliant scientist that he was, his hesitation, his fear - his panic had cost him much._

_But it was gone, now. The fear and uncertainty was all gone…_

_The doctor stared at the monstrous skull._  

_He felt no struggle, no semblance of Sans’ will within the weapon. He was not sure if any part of the young monster remained._

_The mentality of the Blasters had seeped into his SOUL as he’d changed. He’d been panicked, and upon the doctor’s command, he’d been automatically inclined to let the doctor clear his mind. To let him give orders._

_It was the only kind of peace the Blaster could hope for, after all. They were perpetually nervous, as he’d intended. They were a lot more dangerous that way - for anyone other than Gaster who attempted to_ use _them._

_Now remained to be seen if his laser was functional._

_The doctor hesitated a moment, suddenly struck by the silence of the facility. By now, his student would have made some inane quip or observation._

_He slowly walked around the floating skull, which turned to face him accordingly. His white-ringed gaze followed him as he walked._

_There was scarcely any evidence that Sans remained._

_Experimentally, he reached out for the weapon's forehead. Gesturing upwards, he motioned to dismiss it into his inventory._

_A crackle of light blue energy emanated from within the skull, and Gaster drew back - seeing the barest flicker of a monster soul appear between its eyes._

_It vanished as quickly as it had come, and the energy subsided. The Blaster began to tremble and chatter its teeth, the norm for their aggravated behaviour._

_He placed a hand on its forehead, and it was instantly pacified._

_Of course. Gaster could not dismiss a being with a soul into his inventory. That aspect of Sans seemed intact, but what else was?_

_... It didn't matter. It was strictly under his control._

_He did not have to worry about Sans, anymore._

_Gaster carried on down the hall, his weapon trailing after him._

_He supposed he didn’t need to walk anywhere, now. His new tool would take him anywhere in the Underground Nexus. But he’d rather not alert others to his abilities just yet. Especially not the King._

_He’d use the old-fashioned way, for now._

_Gaster turned a corner, towards the break room and the main CORE lab entrance._

_He paused briefly, blinking._

 

_Standing directly in the middle of the hall was his crew._

 

_Reno, despite clearly not being called into work today, was present. He was lacking his lab coat, fidgeting with the end of his sweater, his ears drooping back._

_Owel was speaking to the group, her voice low - anything but conversational. He supposed she was filling them in on her displeasure of the situation. As usual._

_Val was the one who noticed his approach. They said nothing to greet him, but their eyes were trained on him, attentive._

_Sprig, however, was absent. Gaster surmised that he was still fast asleep at the security console._

_It had benefitted the doctor just fine - he had shut all the monitors off upon spying Sans appearing in his office (Simply an equipment malfunction, he'd say)._

_“…I surmise you have not yet sought an audience with the king?” Val spoke, first._

_Owel and Reno spun to face the doctor. The lizard monster was stony-faced, as per usual. Reno’s shoulders were hunched, his gaze averted as he backed away behind Val._

**_“I needed to attend to some business, first.”_ ** _Gaster said, a smile upon his features._ **_“Are you all going to accompany me?”_ **

_“It depends.” Owel said, curtly. “Do you want your proposition shut down sooner, or later?”_

_The doctor closed his eyes._

_Ah. So that’s what this was._

_He supposed it had been a long time coming. His subordinates had been voicing their displeasure more and more frequently._

_It was troublesome. Incredibly so._

_He didn’t have time for this._

_“You are throwing things together out of mere curiosity, now.” Val said, their eyes narrowing. “Your work on your weaponry was… paranoid. But justified, in the slightest.”_

_They drew to their full height. “But an impromptu test with little to no preparation? Simply to satisfy your curiosity?” They blinked. “This is mindlessly playing with fire.”_

_“… violates section 2-14 regarding open flames. Violates sections 4-02 onwards…” Reno mumbled quietly to himself._

_(Was he soothing himself by reciting safety protocol?)_

**_“The timeframe of the CORE’s use is shrinking rapidly.”_ ** _Gaster shrugged._ **_“As I said earlier, Owel, it may be redundant to use the concoction as a coolant by now._ _”_**

 _His gaze landed on the sea green monster._ **_“In any case, we have limited resources. Limited funding, to boot.”_**

_Owel’s eyes darted to the Gaster Blaster beside him._

_“… is that why this one’s a little smaller than your usual fare?” She muttered, observing it in mild irritation._

**_“I was experimenting with a more compact variant.”_ ** _Gaster said, striding forward._ **_“You may accompany me to the King if you wish. I assure you, the outcome will be no different.”_ **

_“His Majesty will not agree to this.” Val said, quietly. “You surely must understand this, old friend.”_

_The skeleton turned to face them, a smile tugging at the edge of his mouth._

**_“Asgore has many strengths. I am afraid comprehending scientific theory is not one of them.”_ ** _Gaster chuckled, shaking his head._ **_“He cannot make a solid judgement on what he doesn’t understand.”_ **

_Val’s expression did not change._

_“A statement you would do well to live by, doctor.” They muttered._

_“…then we should… explain it to him…”_

_Everyone turned to Reno. The red monster was trembling, sinking into himself. His shrill and irritating voice grated on the doctor’s ears._

_“W-we need to explain what it all means. We don’t know what the consequences could be if we test on the CORE, itself. Th-the size dis… disparity could…”_

**_“Sometime_ ** **_today_ ,** ** _Reno.”_ ** _Gaster said, coldly._

_“That’s_ **_enough_ ** _.”_

_It was Owel who’d raised her voice. The doctor didn’t look at her, instead choosing to stare down at Reno until the red monster hurriedly looked away._

**_“Now. I’ve arranged to meet with His Majesty in ten minutes.”_ ** _Gaster said, turning to walk down the corridor._ **_“If you impede my movements, I may have to remark to the King himself on your troublesome behaviour.”_ **

_“…Your word against ours, huh?” Owel asked, marching into pace beside him. Val and Reno followed after - the serpentine monster slithering into place beside him, and the red monster trailing meekly behind, glancing periodically at the Gaster Blaster that floated nearby._  
****

_But soon, his attention was caught by something else._

_Gaster blinked at the sound of rapidly approaching footfalls from behind, and turned to glance over his shoulder._

_He saw Sprig stumble to a stop behind the group, who had all turned to face him._

_There were dark shadows beneath the blue monster’s eyes. It looked as if he’d just woken up and broken into a run soon after. Yet despite his seeming exhaustion, his eyes were wide open._

_The doctor couldn’t quite read his expression._

_“Sprig? …W-Where’ve you been?” Reno’s tone was startled._

_The blue monster didn’t reply. He didn't look at anybody._

_Instead, he moved forward, pushing past Val to stand directly in Gaster’s path. A bead of sweat had appeared on his forehead, as his gaze rose to meet the doctor’s. He was shaking on the spot, trying to catch his breath._

_He looked disoriented. Uncertain._

**_“Suffering from a little caffeine overdose, are we?”_ ** _Gaster asked, tilting his head._

_Sprig's expression changed._

_The skeleton noted his stance grew wider than usual. Sprig fists were balled to either side._

_And still, in his bravado, he looked shaken as he finally spoke._

_“… Where’s Sans?”_

_Gaster heard Owel step out from beside him._

_“Sprig, it’s okay. I sent the kid home. He doesn’t need to be caught up in all this.”_

_Out of the corner of his eye, Gaster could see Val turn their head to face her._

_Sprig was still staring up at the doctor. He didn’t break his gaze - which seemed to be becoming increasingly angered as the seconds ticked by._

_“Where is **Sans?”** He repeated, his voice low and dangerous._

_It was at this point in time that the doctor became aware of several things._

_One. Further down the hall, the security monitor room door was in view and wide open. The normally security-conscious Sprig had forsaken locking it entirely in a desperate rush._

_Two. The dark room was flickering, slightly. The monitors had been reactivated._

_Three. The blue monster’s gaze was now focused entirely on the beastly skull beside him, and nothing else._

_Gaster could see his crew slowly turning to face him out of his peripheral vision._

_The halls were quiet. The crackling of the CORE energy seemed to echo through the facility._

_“…Sprig?”_

_Reno’s voice was a little clearer. Gaster sighed, impatient._

**_“Did Owel not answer your question?”_ ** _He asked, raising an eyebrow._

_Sprig didn’t stop staring at the Blaster floating beside him. His fists clenched more tightly. A quiet fury radiated from the normally nonchalant monster._

_“What. Have you done. To_ **_Sans_ ** _?” He whispered, shakily._

 

  

* * *

  

 

The Blaster skull was cracked. 

Frisk had last seen it falling into the abyss of the CORE exterior. It had chased Sans. Papyrus had pounced on it - swept it aside decisively. It had plummeted into the darkness. It had vanished.

And it had returned. 

Despite the damage, it was still functional. It was still floating in the air.

It could still support the weight of its master.

Gaster stood atop it. He hovered several feet above the ground, his back facing the human - his focus strictly on the beast in front of him.

The hands that stuck out of his back twitched and writhed, some lashing out briefly at perceived threats - chasing shadows and noises within the steel corridor they stood within.

But instead of looking at the doctor and the Blaster and the malformed arms…

…all Frisk could really think about was how _still_ Papyrus was.

The beastly skeleton’s shoulders were hunched, his eye sockets wide and unfocused - his gaze vacant. His jaw was hanging open the slightest bit.

With one of Gaster’s hands upon his forehead, he was unresponsive - his eyes becoming white rings, once more.

He’d been caught.

Frisk took in a shuddering breath.

…It was their fault.

It was _their_ _own_ fault this had happened. They should have given up and stayed at the bottom of Muffet’s Cavern. They shouldn’t have encouraged him, no matter how much better he’d seemed. They shouldn’t have told him to keep trying…

Frisk realised that they were holding something in their hands.

Their gaze darted down.

They were still holding Papyrus’ scarf. Its ends were scorched and tattered from the laser that had torn it from the skeleton’s neck - and compared to the human themself, quite large. Almost blanket-size.

It had been large enough to carry them, after all.

The human found themselves grasping the scorched, red material as tightly as they could.

… No.

They _couldn’t_ give up.

Not even because of this.

Frisk suddenly saw a flash of blue out of the corner of their eye. Sans had pushed himself off the ground and charged forward at Gaster with an arm outstretched.

Frisk saw the doctor’s SOUL briefly flicker blue, before one of his many hands suddenly surged back towards Sans. Their mind racing, the human charged forward as Sans froze in place, tackling him to the side and out of its path.

The hand withdrew. Gaster’s focus was entirely on Papyrus. 

**_“WAIT THERE, IF YOU DON’T MIND.”_** He muttered over his shoulder, offhandedly.

Frustrated tears streaked down Frisk’s face as they dragged Sans back and away from the scene.  They found little resistance. The smaller skeleton’s eyes were shut, a clawed hand digging into his skull as a low snarl emanated from him. His legs had given out.

A mere gesture from Gaster had been enough to place his mind back in disarray.

“S-stay with me.” Frisk said, grasping his arm. The stare that they received in response was blank and unfocused. Sans’ eye sockets were black.

They grasped his arms tighter, trying to pull the skeleton to his feet.

“Sans.” They whispered. “W-we’ll get him back. We have to stay determined…”

His eye sockets were flickering blue, now. They were becoming steadily brighter, brightening into a blaze. Frisk grabbed him by the shoulders, gritting their teeth.

They’d seen enough strange eye socket lights to know what that meant.

“Sans, please! Don’t give up! Papyrus needs you! We _all_ do!”

Sans was silent.

Something white appeared out of the corner of Frisk’s eye, and they looked back over to Papyrus. Light was consuming his claws. It was slowly starting to travel up his legs and tail.

Frisk took in a shuddering breath.

The bones that it covered began to disintegrate into white, square particles

His body was disappearing.

_“… no.”_

Frisk’s gaze returned to Sans. He was staring into space, looking hollow. At first, his gaze quickly flicked back up to the human. His expression contorted. It was like he was trying to look stern.

Trying to get mad.

“… he never should have…”

His strength left him, a blank stare reappearing on his features. A sharp-toothed, bitter smile worked its way onto his face.

“… _i_ never… should have…”

His eye sockets were glowing brighter. Frisk shook him by the shoulders, swallowing their panic as best they could. Trying to figure out a plan.

They glanced to the side, trying to catch any sign of Undyne. Anything from the royal captain to interfere with the situation, as she always had.

Frisk shut their eyes.

They didn’t want to leave. They didn’t want to leave their friends behind. They couldn’t. They couldn’t give up!

Gaster couldn’t take them _both_ away…

A low growl echoed through the corridor.

Frisk’s gaze darted to Sans’ eyes. Initially fearing he’d finally reached his own threshold, they were startled to see the blazing blue lights in his eye sockets dim, slightly. They continued to flicker as his gaze rose to look over his shoulder, startled.

He had not made that sound.

Hesitantly, the human looked back over at Papyrus.

His skull was trembling beneath Gaster’s hand. The white rings within his massive sockets flickered orange, darting upwards to stare at the doctor directly.

He gave another low growl.

In the reflection of the steel in the corridor, Frisk could see the scientist’s eye sockets grow wide.

A second hand slammed down onto the Blaster’s forehead.

 ** _“…LISTEN TO ME.”_** Gaster said, his voice soft and dangerous.

As if his body was too heavy to move, Sans slowly pulled himself around on the spot, staring hard at his brother. He watched as his Papyrus’ orange pupils flickered wildly, threatening to fade back into white rings.

Papyrus’ head lowered, his growl becoming a louder snarl of protest. The white faded back into a steady orange.

The light in the doctor’s eye sockets shrank into pinpricks. Another hand slammed down.

A third hand. A fourth. A fifth.

All of Gaster’s extra hands slammed directly onto the Blaster’s head. Gaster’s teeth clenched. He appeared to be focusing hard - he imposed his will on the creature, as he’d always done before.

Frisk blinked slowly, their breath caught in their throat.

 _…_ Papyrus had clearly lost consciousness. Gaster’s influence had been enough to knock him out - to lose control. His responses were beastly - feral. His eyes were trained on the scientist.

He was continuing to snarl, his eyes blazing an intense orange.

But… Papyrus’ body was no longer disintegrating.

The progress had stopped at his elbow joints, at the middle of his tail. The white magic spluttered and crackled feebly around him.

**_“_ ** **_LISTEN_ ** **_TO ME!”_** Gaster roared at him.

The Blaster let out a loud, ear-splitting screech in response.

Glowing veins of orange light surged out the back of Papyrus’ skull, down his neck, spine and ribs - they branched outwards across the surface of his bones, extinguishing the glowing white that plagued them.

The orange light restored the disintegrating bones as they travelled through his body.

Frisk watched as the beast’s tail reappeared. Its back legs and forelegs reformed out of the white light particles to slam down into the steel with a loud and decisive CLANG that echoed through the halls.

The orange, veinlike patterns flashed brightly upon his bones one final time before fading completely. The beast’s head dropped low, the orange in its eyes flickering wildly.

“… _papyrus_?” Sans whispered.

Suddenly, the Blaster yanked itself backwards with another shriek - and Gaster’s hands lashed out, several holding tight to the horns. His grip was firm - clawing into Papyrus’ skull. The doctor drew in breath after shaking breath of nervous denial.

The creature wrestled against the multitude of hands that had attempted to imprison him with a snarl. He tugged backwards, causing them to stretch and thin out, as it they were thick strands of tar.

Orange blazed from Papyrus’ eye sockets.

Light surged to his open maw, and Gaster suddenly yanked his hands away, startled. His arms twitched as they withdrew, black glitches appearing briefly around them. The light burned brighter, the whine of a laser charge echoing throughout the steel corridors…

And then, smaller and more defined lights appeared in the center of Papyrus’ blazing eye sockets.

With a startled cry, the beast’s jaws clamped shut.

The energy dissipated, cracking down his neck and within his ribcage, as if suppressed. A choking, almost coughing sound reverberated from his jaws as he shut his eyes. He shook himself out, snarling lowly.

Frisk stood up. _“Papyrus!”_

The beastly skeleton had refused to shoot. His eyes reopened, white lights flickering wildly within them.

_SH-CLK-CK-CK-CK-CK-CK-CK…._

He backed away from Gaster, his great bones rattling - an almost eerie clicking sound that rolled outwards from him, through the halls. He growled a warning, eyes still trained on the doctor.

A loud, ripping noise sounded from nearby.

Startled, Frisk looked up at the nearby Blaster skull.

A hand of Gaster’s suddenly tore out of his own back to slam into his own head. Several other hands followed suit.

 

_… HE’S NOT LISTENING._

 

A breathy laugh sounded from the doctor. The arms upon his back twitched, and the Blaster upon which he stood began to chatter its teeth, unnerved at its connection with the monster.

 

**IT DIDN’T WORK. IT’S NOT WORKING.**

 

Frisk swallowed, as the multitude of arms began to writhe, some clawing at Gaster’s own skull. His laughter seemed to continue on.

Even when he was still speaking.

 

WHAT IS A TOOL WITH NOBODY TO _CONTROL_ IT?

 

The human felt Sans’ arm tense in their grip.

 

_HE’S DANGEROUS. YOU KNOW THIS._

 

Papyrus’ head rose, white flickering in his eyes, his bone rattling slowing to a stop. He was staring at the doctor, a startled expression on his face as two arms suddenly gasped the other Blaster’s skull horns. Black dripped down its sides, the droplets disintegrating into dark, square particles as they hit the floor.

 

**_UNPREDICTABLE. USELESS._ **

 

Gaster crouched down, atop the Blaster skull. He was shaking, though Frisk could spy a smile cracking across his face.

 

_FIX YOUR MISTAKE._

 

**ERASE IT.**

 

The whine of a laser charge filled the halls. Papyrus’ eye sockets grew wide as light gathered in the other Blaster’s maw.

 

**_DESTROY_ ** **_IT._ **

 

The laser was unleashed. 

Papyrus dodged to the side with a startled yelp. The beam hit the wall beside him, tearing through the thick, steel panels and causing the circuitry within to spark and crackle.

The beastly skeleton stared at the melting hole in the wall in shock. He slowly turned back to the doctor, eye sockets wide.

Another laser whine filled the halls.

**_“MOVE,_ PAPYRUS! _”_**

Startled into action, Papyrus charged forward with his head ducked low, narrowly avoiding the blast that skimmed past his spines. He dodged past Gaster and the floating skull. He leapt clear over Sans and Frisk, darting down the rail-less bridge towards the CORE entrance - closer to the MTT Resort.  
****

Gaster turned the Blaster around to face his target, his extra arms still grasping the horns tightly.

Frisk cringed at the sight.

He wasn’t… _melting_. It wasn’t quite like the Amalgamates that they’d seen deep in the True Lab, but it was still something… _wrong_. Unnerving. The black, square particles buzzed around him more insistently. His head and arms twitched erratically…

… was the crack on his skull becoming _wider?_

 _FIX… YOUR MISTAKE._ Gaster mumbled, absentmindedly.

Frisk noted that his mouth wasn’t moving.

The Blaster carried the doctor forward, over Sans and Frisk - trailing unsteadily after the speeding Papyrus, who had darted far down the hall. Another laser charge sounded, and a second beam of energy shot in the beastly skeleton’s direction.

Papyrus dodged to the side, avoiding it with ease.

The human felt the skeleton yank his arm out of their grasp, in an attempt to follow. A flash of red, black and blue suddenly surged past them, alongside the hum of an energy spear.

**_PING!_ **

Frisk watched as Sans was frozen in his tracks. A green shield suddenly materialised on his arm, and his SOUL crackled GREEN as Undyne stepped back, withdrawing her spear.  
****

The human swallowed, as Sans turned to look over his shoulder at her, eye sockets narrowed.

“… you really think this is gonna _stop_ me?”

The captain didn’t return his look, instead staring after the doctor and his unsteady attempts to pursue his target. Papyrus had already vanished around a corner.

“No.” She said, flatly. “But maybe it’ll give you enough time to think on a freaking strategy before you decide to try being a hero.”

The GREEN soul sparked, as Sans strained against it, a low snarl sounding from his throat as his face stretched into a vicious, sharp-toothed grin. Frisk stepped back, startled as the skeleton leaned towards Undyne, the shield upon his arm crackling almost violently. 

Whether he was aware of it or not, he was beginning to hunch over, betraying the beginnings of a quadrupedal stance.

 _“do you see that huge, gaping hole, cap? the_ **_burning_ ** _one in the wall?”_

The captain didn’t reply, still staring down the hall thoughtfully. Frisk realised that she’d seen what had happened, moments ago.

“H e ‘ s  g o i n g  t o  _k i l l_ h i m.” The skeleton’s voice was tinged with a growl, his eyesockets dark.

“Yeah? And Gaster's gonna use _you_ to do it if you try running after him!” Undyne snarled back, her face suddenly level with his. “I got plenty of reasons to knock you out _again_ , numbskull! But I’m getting tired of carrying around _literal emotional baggage_!”

The lights returned to Sans’ eyes, flickering blue. He suddenly seemed aware of his stance, abruptly standing back up straight.

He looked startled.

Frisk was silent, as Undyne stepped back with a sigh.

 

"I don't have time for this." She muttered, glancing over her shoulder. "If you're gonna try making a mess out of things again, I'll pin you on that wall and leave you hanging."

Sans struggled against the GREEN attack as Undyne began to run down the hall.

 _"... i'm just... trying to protect him..."_ He mumbled, distantly. Frisk reached over and squeezed his wrist, bringing him back to the present.

Undyne glanced over her shoulder as she ran.

“SORT YOUR JUNK OUT _FIRST,_ KNUCKLEHEAD!!!” She roared.

The captain turned away and finally tore off after the doctor, who was accelerating in speed down the corridor.

Frisk watched her go for a moment, before turning back to Sans. His eyesockets were dim - the white lights absent, but the blue light flickering within the darkness.

The human swallowed, looking at the shield. It remained fully tangible. The skeleton was no longer straining against the GREEN attack.

_“…how did he do that?”_

Frisk paused. Sans was staring after Undyne. His arms hung slack to their sides, his expression blank.

“… gaster _had_ him.” He mumbled. “how the heck did he…?”

There was a silence.

“I don’t know.” Frisk admitted, softly.

Papyrus had been startled. He’d lost control.

… but he hadn’t succumbed to Gaster’s command.

After a pause, they looked down at Papyrus’ scarf, bunched up slightly in their grip.

Frisk blinked.

…It was odd that it had been present around Papyrus’ neck in the first place, when they’d found him at the bottom of Muffet’s Cavern.

The first time Papyrus had changed, there had been no trace of his old self. Nothing to indicate who the beast once was.

But, the second time around…

Frisk looked back up at Sans, who was now staring at his brother’s scarf, himself. His expression was unreadable. The telltale flicker of blue in his eye sockets said a lot, however.

Frisk looked back down at the scarf. They remembered why they’d let Papyrus climb that wall. They remembered why they’d encouraged him - why they’d ultimately chosen to believe in him, despite the troubling circumstances.

They rolled up the scarf into a small, manageable ball, and looked up at Sans, their expression firm.

“… Something’s different.” They remarked, blinking.

 

 

* * *

 

_The CORE crackled silently in the nearby chamber._

_The group of scientists stood still in the hall, adjacent to the CORE control room - the group still facing Sprig, who was starting to tremble with rage._

 

_"What have you **done** to **Sans?"** He repeated. _

 

_There was a silence._

_“… What're you talking about, Sprig?”_

_Gaster gave an impatient sigh upon hearing Owel’s tone. Sprig was appearing more volatile._ _He didn't have time for this._

_The blue monster appeared almost manic. Delusional._

_Gaster could use that._

**_“An avid hallucination, by the looks of it.”_ ** _He peered down at the blue monster, raising an eyebrow._ **_“How many nights have you spent sleepless in succession, hm?”_ **

_“I recorded the **footage.”** Sprig said, his voice thick with anger. His gaze was now firmly fixed on on the doctor. “I watched it again. I _ **_know_ ** _what I saw.”_

_Magical electricity danced in the blue monster’s fingers._

_"... why did you do that? how the **hell** could you do that?!" He snarled, beginning to raise his hands into a combative stance._

_“W-wait! Sprig, calm down! Breathe in, and out!” Reno took a step forward, waving his hands and glancing feebly over at Gaster._

_The doctor raised his hands._

**_“Easy, my friend.”_ ** _He chuckled._ **_“An accusation, and now a threat of physical violence?”_ ** _The doctor crossed his arms._ **_“I did not think of you as the type to have any LV.”_ **

_Sprig stood up straight, features twisted into a fierce anger. The magical electricity crackled more insistently in the blue monster’s fingers, and he raised his hand threateningly._

 

_"... I didn't think **you** were the type to turn a kid into an experiment." He said, his voice soft and dangerous. "But here we are, huh?"_

 

_There was a brief silence. Val slowly turned to look at the floating skull._

_Their eyes grew wide._

_“…What?” Owel asked._

_Gaster sighed._

_He extended a hand outwards, and the Blaster obliged, light gathering threateningly in its maw. Sprig stepped back, wide-eyed, the electricity spluttering in his hands as he stared at the skull in shock._

_"Sans..." He whispered._

_“W-What are you two DOING?!” Reno yelled, grasping his head._

_Owel had dashed past Gaster, standing side-to-side with Sprig. Her eyes darted back and forth between the doctor and the Blaster, her fierce gaze punctuated by confusion._

_“Call that thing_ **_off_."** _She said, finally. “_ **_Now."_**

_Gaster shook his head._

**_“If you’re going to be impertinent, then learn to keep it to yourself.”_ ** _He sighed._ **_“I am merely defending myself from this lunatic.”_ **

_Something abruptly wrapped around his ankle._

_Before Gaster could respond, he felt himself being yanked cleanly off his feet. His extra hand was ripped off of the Blaster’s forehead as he went flying across the air, landing hard on the tiled floor of the corridor and skidding to a stop, facedown._

_He lay still a moment._

_There was a dead silence. Gaster placed a hand beneath his body, slowly pushing himself up._

**_“… Are you a_ child _, Val?”_** _He asked, a smile snaking across his face._

_“No.” The serpentine monster replied, curtly. “…But this remains an effective manoeuvre against you, apparently.”_

_Gaster rose to a crouch, looking over his shoulder. Val had positioned themself in front of the other three scientists. Their tail twitched into a hooklike shape._

_“I cannot say I care for threatening a fellow monster, old friend.” They said, lowly._

_The skeleton raised an eyebrow._ **_“Clearly… and what was that, just now?”_ ** _He muttered, glancing down at his ankle._

_“Defending ourselves from a lunatic.” Val said, lowering their head. “I suggest you cease this nonsense now, doctor. No good will come of it.”_

_There was the sound of something clicking._

_Gaster looked past Val, beyond the other three scientists where the Blaster skull hovered exactly where he’d left it._

_Out of his reach. Out of his control._

_Its teeth were chattering. The white rings that had remained within its sockets were now beginning to become overtaken with bright, fiery blue light._

_The skeleton blinked slowly, as blue light began to surge to its maw._

**_“… I could say the same for you.”_ ** _Gaster said, blankly._

_The telltale sound of a laser charge was all the warning the scientists had. Reno was the first to act with a scream, hurling himself aside. Owel leapt back, and Sprig ducked down, while Val only had time to turn around._

_There was a mess of light, fire and shards. The Blaster’s aim was erratic, panicked. The energy beams collided into the wall, into the ceiling. Debris fell from above, and Owel immediately focused her telekinetic magic to keep them hovering in the air above her._

_Gaster stared at the scene, only stopping to roll out of the path of another stray blast._

_With the absence of its master, it had become frenzied._

_It shot at the walls. It shot at the floors, the infirmary, the exit - the CORE control room..._

_...the CORE chamber._

_Gaster’s eye sockets grew wide._

_A blast had shattered the thick glass window. The blue beam surged into the chamber, orbiting the massive, churning ball of energy several times, faster and faster until finally plunging into the CORE itself._

_A terrible, screeching buzzing noise emanated out from the massive orb of energy, a force rippling outwards - causing the remaining observatory windows to fracture._

_“KEEP IT_ **_STILL!"_**

_The doctor spun to look back at the monstrous skull. It was surrounded by orange energy, courtesy of Owel, who was focusing hard to keep it in place._

_It was shrieking loudly, white particles beginning to gather straight below it._

_“It’s struggling!” She muttered, teeth gritted. “Val, help me out, here!”_

_The serpentine monster imposed their magic onto the snarling creature. The orange energy surrounded it it completely, only to crackle and dissolve off of it moments later._

_The serpentine monster withdrew, their pupils shrinking._

_“…That is no object.” They mused. “...There_ _is_ _a SOUL in there.”_

_Owel spun to face Val, eyes wide._

_“… What?!”_

_With a glance to the CORE, Gaster charged towards the Blaster, summoning another one of his extra hands._

_He needed to reclaim Sans here and now. They needed to teleport away, or else -_

_A bolt of magical electricity suddenly collided into his side, throwing him off his feet. He was slammed against the wall, briefly glimpsing a furious Sprig before he felt Val’s tail suddenly wrap around his ankles again to be tossed hard into the ground._

_"Change him back, doc." He seethed. **"Now!"**_

_Slowly, Gaster shakily sat up with a groan, spotting Val slithering towards him. Their orange magic had manifested in their eyes, causing them to hover up off the tiles the slightest bit._

_“You would do well to stay down, old friend.” They said, softly. “I do not wish to hurt you more than I deem necessary.”_

_An amused grin played on Gaster’s features._

**_“Oh, you’re_ angry _.”_** _He chuckled._

_Val’s small pupils vanished. Their great mouth opened into a smile that threatened to sever the top of their head from their neck._

_“I have_ **_great_ ** _cause to be.” They said, a faint echo to their voice. “You saw fit to do this to your own **student.** You have fallen _ **_far_ ** _.”_

_Gaster found himself chuckling, watching the monstrous skull from afar. Sprig had turned his attention to Sans, shouting his name over and over, trying to get some sort of response, only to be snapped at._

_Owel was silent, her expression becoming one of hollow shock as she focused her telekinetic magic at the skull again and again, only for it to dissolve off of the weapon._

_Reno had scrambled back against the wall, staring at the skull in horror and shaking his head._

_“I-It’s a_ **_mistake_ ** _! There’s gotta be some kind of mistake!” He said, his breathing speeding up. “A misjudgement! An overreaction!”_

 **_“I would have appreciated your defence earlier on, Reno.”_ ** _Gaster muttered, coldly._

_A loud shriek sounded from the wayward weapon, and the doctor made a face._

_Well, the cannon was certainly functional. But out of reach, the creature was proving to be a nuisance._

_Out of his control._

_“Return him to normal.” Val said, lowly. "This is an abomination. He cannot be used like this."_

_Gaster blinked up at his old friend, blankly._

**_“I am unsure if I can.”_ ** _He stated, his attention taken by the Blaster once more. Light was beginning to reform beneath it, shaping out the beginnings of a spine, a ribcage - limbs._

 **_“… I am learning the effects as I go.”_ ** _He smiled._ **_“Making observations, if you will. You are in the way.”_ **

_They were_ ** _all_ ** _in the way._  
****

_A crackle sounded, as the creature’s body reformed abruptly in jagged patterns of white. Its claws reformed, slamming down to find purchase on the ground. Its eye sockets remained filled with flames of blue light that left trails in the dim lighting as it abruptly spun to face Reno, Owel and Sprig, its new tail twitching, its head hanging low with a threatening snarl._

_With a body, the Blaster was taller than Sans’ usual height. It towered over Owel, slowly stalking towards the three scientists. They backed down the corridor in a cautious silence._

_Gaster raised his eyebrows._

_Interesting._

_After an initial frenzy, the Blaster seemed to now be operating on a more…_ **_structured_ ** _instinct._

_Without his direct influence, the weapon was now turning against anything that was a perceived threat._

_A smile played on the doctor’s features. He could use this._

_The Blaster was_ **_nervous_ ,** _like the rest of his creations._

_… and like his other cannons… it appeared that its nervousness easily manifested into aggression._

_Gaster glanced nonchalantly over at the trio of scientists, as the creature advanced on them, snarling menacingly._

_"Wait... kid... Kid!" Sprig stepped forward, holding his hands up. "Snap out of it!"_

_The Blaster charged at them with a roar._

_Owel, Reno and Sprig spun on the spot and ran. They hurried as fast as they could down the hall, the beast in pursuit._

_Alarmed, Val moved forward to chase after them. No doubt to intervene._

_They were stopped in their tracks by a loud whine of electricity that crackled and snapped, echoing throughout the facility._

_They turned to face the CORE control room, and the chamber beyond. Arcs of multicoloured electricity rose out of the massive sphere of energy. The CORE itself seemed to pulsate, wild blue energy streaking across its surface._

_The reinforced windows gained a few new fractures as another shockwave radiated outwards from the CORE’s centre. Val braced themselves against the blast that made its way through the broken window, immediately deactivating their magic before being slammed against the steel wall._

_They sagged to the floor, slowly lifting their head to face the CORE chamber in growing terror._

_Their gaze darted back to Gaster, who lay sprawled against the wall, staring back at them - slightly woozy from the blast._

**_“… It appears you have something_ else _to worry about.”_** _Muttered the doctor._

 

 

* * *

 

 

_Light. Noise._

_Crackling. Screeching._

_Red. Blue. Green._

_His claws propelled him forward at a speed that blurred his surroundings. He felt the energy surge into his throat and burn, burn until he could contain it no more._

_The fire spilled forth from his jaws, beaming directly to one of his targets. The green monster rolled out of the way, darting around a corner._

_“SPLIT UP!”_

_“We have to stop him from shooting!”_

_They were fast._

_He’d be faster. He was faster._

_“I’ll keep him here! Reno, go_ **_around_ ** _!”_

_The red monster turned and vanished down another corridor. The creature turned to follow, only to be startled by a loud zap of electricity colliding on the floor nearby._

_He snarled at the blue monster, the only remainder on this tiled path. They backed away, wide-eyed._

_“C’mon, kid.” They muttered, teeth clenched. “C’mon. It’s me. It’s_ **_us_ ** _.”_

_The creature shrieked at them. Stumbling back, they spun around and continued to flee down the hall - and he followed._

_The beast didn’t know who they were. He didn’t know where they came from._

_But he knew they could attack him._

_He’d seen the electricity. He’d seen the master be tossed around by force._

_He’d seen them_ **_hurt_ ** _._

_Yes. They were a danger. He needed to get rid of them. If they got away, they would come back._

_They would attack him. Destroy him._

_He needed to destroy them_ **_first_ ** _…_

_A thrum in the air._

_He stopped in his tracks, trotting to a stop. He turned his head over his shoulder, looking back from where he’d came._

_He heard a voice._

_A nice voice. Peaceful._

_Tones of white noise. Of screeching and buzzing._

_Tones that drowned everything else out._

_He turned on the spot, his targets forgotten._

_Yes. He needed to return. He was being called._

_The voice would make things better. It would clear everything away. It would bring him peace. He wouldn’t be afraid._

_He would be safe._

_The creature turned slowly on the spot, his claws clicking on the tiles. He ignored the cries that echoed from behind him._

_He just had to go back. Then, he wouldn’t have to think, anymore. He wouldn’t need to fear a single thing -_

_PING!_

_He felt something close in on his SOUL. Panic suddenly rushed through him as he felt something constrict around his forelimb. He let out a screech, his claws scrabbling against the tiles in a forward motion._

_He wasn’t moving. And this strange - green thing wasn’t coming off his leg._

_The creature thrashed about against the force. He couldn’t even turn his body around - this energy had locked him in place._

_He was trapped. He was_ **_trapped!_**

_“Keep him steady, Reno.” Came an approaching voice._

_“Would’ve appreciated you doing that about five minutes sooner.” Said another. It was close._

_Too close._

_Snarling, the creature snapped to the left - and the blue monster leapt out of his reach, their eyes wide._

_Missed._

_“I was t-too busy!” Replied a voice that was far away. “I was running for a cause! A_ **_good_ ** _cause!”_

_“We’ve still got his laser to worry about…”_

_The first voice. This one was low, and tired._

_His eyes darted to the right._

_Close._

_He snapped at a sea green monster, who promptly leapt back out of sight, behind him. His tail whipped about and someone yelled, feet scrabbling against the tiles._

_"Give him space!”_

_There was the sound of footsteps backing off._

_The creature snarled again, his frustration building to a loud roar. They were keeping him here. They were keeping him here in the dark - he could hear the voice. The voice was far away but it was there - it was there, and he had to go - he had to_ **_leave_ ** _…_

_“What do we do?” The blue creature spoke again, and he tried to snap in its general direction. His teeth chattered threateningly._

_Back off. Leave him_ **_alone_ ** _. Leave him alone, or -_

 _“I don’t_ **_know_."** _The voice to his right sounded, though it sounded farther away, this time. “…you're really saying that this is the kid?”_

_The creature paused._

_…Kid?_

_He continued to chatter his teeth, threateningly. He continued to stare out of the corner of his eyesocket, daring anyone to approach._

_(But what was a kid?)_

_“… not that I don’t trust your judgement, Sprig…” Continued the rightmost voice. “… but are you sure this is Sans?”_

_“I-It can’t be him.” The farthest voice was growing high-pitched. “It’s not possible. Th-there’s no way  for such a drastic change to even be possible!”_

_“Monsters_ **_can_ ** _change shape.” The rightmost voice muttered. “DT. SOUL absorption, as our grand history dictates.”_

_A sigh came from the left._

_“… It didn’t look like the doc did any of that, though.”_

_The doc._

_The chattering of his teeth began to slow, and he turned his head. The sea-green monster was standing just out of his range. Startled at how close they were, he began to snarl at them, again._

_Stay away. Stay_ **_away!_**

_“Can Sans hear us…?” They asked, staring directly at him. “Does he even remember us? He’s done nothing but… attack.”_

_“I don’t know.” Came the left voice. “… I don’t… something was happening.” A pause. “Doc did something to his SOUL... I think it's messed with his head."_

_The teal monster’s piercing eyes narrowed at the statement. They seemed to be studying the creature carefully, and he gave a low growl in response._

_He didn’t like them staring. Stop… staring. Don’t look._

_"What else did you see?" They said._

_"Before he changed completely… he started_ **_snarling_** _. Started… started acting like one of the Blasters on a bad day.” There was a pause. "... He was so **scared,** Owel."_

_There was a silence. The creature watched as the teal monster's intense expression began to soften._

 

_“… he’s smaller.” They observed, quietly. Their eyes looked hollow. “… couldn’t pick him up with telekinesis. Couldn't even dismiss him into an inventory. He really does have a SOUL.”_

_There was a pause, as the sea green monster shut their eyes._

_“… I told the kid to go_ **_home_ ** _.” They said, sharply. “I told him it was going to be_ **_dangerous_ ** _.”_

_The creature struggled in his trap, the green energy flickering around his SOUL. Dangerous. Exactly! He was in danger. He had to leave!_

_They were keeping him here, and they…_

_He shook his head._

_… they couldn’t… keep him here._

 

_They couldn’t… risk putting him in danger…_

 

 _“You should’ve_ **_walked_ ** _with him!” The left voice suddenly yelled. “You should’ve made sure he was out of the facility!”_

 _“And_ **_you_ ** _shouldn’t have been asleep on the job!” The sea green monster had turned to face the speaker, sharp teeth bared. “You could’ve_ **_seen_ ** _him! You could’ve stopped the kid!”_

 

_Shouldn’t have… They shouldn’t have…_

 

_A chill ran through his bones._

 

_…_ **_he_ ** _… shouldn’t have…_

 

_“He… h-he must have made it out!” The distant voice sounded increasingly higher pitched and desperate. “Th-this… This can’t be him! This is just some prototype project, right? S-something that the doctor worked on! We just have to call Snowdin - he’ll pick up!”_

 

_… Snowdin?_

_The creature trilled, initially pulling away from the thought. No… no…_

_Wrong. Something was wrong. He didn’t like it. He didn’t want to think about it._

_He had to leave. To follow the voice…_

_… why did it hurt?_

 

_What was wrong…?_

 

 _“You’re_ **_holding_ ** _his freaking SOUL, Reno!” Yelled the leftmost voice._

_The far-off voice suddenly went quiet._

_There was a brief silence._

_“…I messed up, alright?” The voice continued. “I… wasn’t paying attention. Took too many overnight shifts. Wasn’t expecting the kid to try anything… Sans must’ve been trying to get the jump on the doc or somethin’.”_

 

**_Jump._ **

 

_A hand. A vial. A voice._

_A shaking, ragged gasp was drawn in through his jaws. His vision seemed to swim before him, a mess of dim and dark colours._

_His gaze landed on the reflective tiles, his own ghastly visage staring back._

_His breathing grew shaky._

_No…_

_No, no no…_

_His body felt heavy. His limbs felt weak. Wrong._

_Wrong… everything was_ **_wrong_ ** _._

_The voice - the peaceful screeching, buzzing voice -  sounded again. He physically recoiled, shutting his eyes tightly. A whine rose from his throat, unbidden. He was starting to tremble._

_“He was trying to get the jump on the doctor.” The right voice repeated, a hint of incredulity in her tone._

_“The doc’s arsenal chamber is empty.” The left voice said, quietly. “Rewound the footage, before I noticed Gaster’s office being in shambles.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “Sans took them all.”_

_Another shaky whine emanated from the creature’s skull. He slowly shook his head._

_… he’d taken them all. Taken… them…_

 

**_… Thief._ **

 

_“Was the kid hoping to_ **_use_ ** _them?” The other voice sounded skeptical._

_“Think he was just removing them.” The left voice muttered. “Everyone knows they’re all keyed to Gaster. He didn’t try to summon them - even when…”_

_There was a pause._

_“… I told him it was too dangerous with the cannons around.” The right voice sounded hollow with realization. “…He was trying to help.”_

_He was only trying to help._

_Help…_

_The creature whimpered, trembling to the point where his bones were beginning to rattle._

 

**_< help…  >_ **

 

_Please… he needed help… he needed_ **_help_ ** _…_

 

_“… H-hello?”_

 

_The creature’s eye sockets shot open._

_The voice was right next to his skull. It had been the distant voice - the one that had stayed entirely out of his reach._

_It was a red monster. He was approaching him from the side, cautiously, his eyes perpetually wide._

_… Reno._

_“Hey - hey, what’re you doing?!” The left voice yelled in alarm. “He could still be - !”_

_… Sprig._

_“Wait. Wait a sec…” The right voice was cautious. It was getting louder, coming closer._

_…Owel._

_The Blaster stared hard at the red monster, who slowly walked around his front to face him._

_This was wrong._

_Everything was wrong. These monsters were not a threat._

_The whimpers developed into a low and anguished keen as the haze finally lifted from Sans’ mind._

_They had never_ **_been_ ** _a threat._

_Sans felt his strength leave him. His memories came flooding back, and he was almost crushed by their weight._

_He collapsed to the floor, eyes shut. He felt Reno release his hold on Sans’ SOUL._

_“… is he…?”_

_Owel had spoken, and he almost recoiled._

_He should have listened._

_He should have gone_ **_home…_ **

_Sans heard both her and Sprig race around to his front. For a moment, he didn’t want to open his eyes. He didn’t want to look at them._

_“…S-Sans?” Reno asked, shakily and uncertainly._

_Slowly, the Blaster forced his eye sockets open._

_He saw all three scientists standing before him. Owel with her piercing stare - with an expression more furious than anything else. Sprig hovering nearby, his features grim and exhausted, but hopeful at the sight of him. Reno stood in front of them both, ears cocked back. His hands were currently gripping the middle of his sweater, the fabric twisting in his hands._

_He didn’t look so good, either._

_Reno slowly crouched down, face-to-face with his friend. “Sans… I-Is it really you…?”_

_Another low keening noise emanated from him. He gave two slow deliberate nods, and he was sorry - he was_ **_sorry_ ** _\- he was so_ **_sorry_ ** _he’d never wanted this - he’d never wanted to do this, he hadn’t meant to chase them, he hadn’t meant to try to_ **_shoot_ ** _at them…_

_A screeching, buzzing white noise echoed through the halls, and he tensed._

_His breathing grew shaky._

**_Gaster._**

_He could sense Gaster nearby. He could sense his energies, he could feel his influence and he didn’t want to go back - he didn’t want to listen, he didn’t want to be like this._

_It was so hard to think properly. It was so hard to focus._

_Sans wanted to come back. He wanted to be Sans, again._

_He shut his eyes tightly again, with a whimper._

_He wanted to come_ **_back!_ **

_“… Kid…”_

_Owel’s voice reached him. He carefully opened his eye sockets to see her approach, cautiously._

_“I… don’t panic, okay?”_

_The green monster knelt down on one knee to face him. She’d traded her fury for concern - but every time she gave a quick glance back down the corridor, her gaze became hardened and cold._

_Sans hadn’t seen her look this shaken since the CORE fragment incident._

_Sprig arrived at his other side, kneeling beside him. He looked exhausted._

_“Deep breaths.” Hesitantly, the blue monster reached out to touch his shoulder, but seemed to decide against it, letting his arm drop back to his side with a sigh. “C’mon, buddy. I, uh… just take it easy for a sec. We’re not gonna hurt ya.”_

_Reno was trembling. He initially reached for Sans’ head, but as an afterthought, placed a hand on one of his side-horns, instead. Sans tensed._

_“Y-Yeah.” He said, shakily. “D-deep breaths. I-it’s…”_

_Reno followed his own advice, drawing in a shaky gasp as he withdrew his hand._

_“I-it’s gonna… be okay.” He said, quietly. “We’re… going to get you out of here. We’re going to get you far, far away from here, okay?”_

_After a pause, he added “N-no bones about it.”_

_In the chaos of his mind, Sans found himself trilling quietly at the phrase._

_He stared up at Reno, blinking slowly. The red monster withdrew his hands, grasping the material of his own sweater, once more._

_“… b-bad time.” He muttered apologetically under his breath, ears drooping back._

_The beast paused. The smallest bit of tension left him. He chuffed, quietly, and slowly shook his head at Reno._

_It was small thing, but - he appreciated it. He really needed some kind of familiarity, right now._

_Sans shut his eyes._

_He needed… he needed to feel safe._

_“We gotta get moving.” Owel’s voice sounded distant. “We have to get him out of the facility. He needs_ **_some_ ** _kind of help.”_

_“W-where do we go?” Asked Reno. “Gaster’s still close to the main entrance…”_

_“We’ll think of something.” Sprig said, his voice travelling past Sans. “See if we can access the side entrances…”_

_Sans felt his shoulder being gently shaken. He blearily opened his eyes to see Owel nudging him with her head._

_“Can you stand?” She asked, firmly. Sprig had already wandered over to his side to offer support, and Sans slowly pushed himself up off of the tiled floor with weak and shaky legs._

_An alarmed trill sounded from his throat, and he stumbled._

_… none of it felt right. His body map was off. His coordination wasn’t meant for this form. What had come to him so naturally about ten minutes ago had vanished completely._

_He nearly collapsed to the floor again, a little stunned at the positions of his hands and feet. His heels did not touch the ground. He could not lay his palms flat…_

_Sprig supported him from the side, and Reno dashed to the other side to assist._

_Sans was still trembling violently as he began to walk in a slow and deliberate crawl, his mind racing to try and coordinate a body that was clearly not his. To try and keep himself calm - to block out the strangeness and horror of the situation._

_His anxiety was perpetual - he felt constantly nervous, no matter what he thought about._

_But…_

_One of Sans’ claws slipped out from under him, and immediately, all three scientists dashed forward to keep him steady._

_“Alright - take it easy.” Muttered Sprig. “One foot in front of the other… alternate them a bit… there we go.”_

_Owel withdrew from him, having used her head to support Sans from under his shoulder. “Kid, don’t worry, okay?” She glanced coldly back from where they’d come, then looked back at Sans again, expression softening._

_“We’ll keep you safe.”_

_Shakily, the beastly skeleton continued to walk forward._


	21. A Break (Part I)

His throat burned.

Another guttural cough escaped Papyrus as he ran. The beastly skeleton could have sworn that he’d spotted orange sparks forced out from his maw - his legs galloping more out of instinct than anything. He still felt stunned, his mind still addled by the mutagen. All he wanted to do right now was run.

But he was focused enough. Aware enough to think, to know his name.

The laser fire in his jaws had certainly been a very effective wake-up call.

He’d been snapped back to a very clear and unfavourable memory. Terror had gripped him, then and now. But it had woken him up - brought his mind back to the fore.

Papyrus had managed to stop the blast, and now he had the burned throat and ribcage to prove it.

A low whine escaped him, as he continued to charge over the rail-less bridge.

He’d slipped! He’d lost control! Gaster had almost caught him, and… and he’d slipped into the haziness. He’d hoped such a thing wouldn’t happen again - especially not now! The hand to the head was all it had taken. His mind had gone into chaos, and then… a blankness.

Papyrus remembered that very feeling from what seemed like days ago, now.

He remembered his, Frisk’s and Undyne's second attempt to get the Blaster-fied Sans back from Gaster. A momentary lapse in concentration had cost the lanky skeleton during an attempted BLUE attack. While at arm’s length, the doctor had managed to slam a hand onto his skull.

Undyne had thankfully intervened before the doctor could escape with both Sans and Papyrus in tow. But the all-encompassing blankness was not easy to forget. A great cloud of nothing had briefly washed over his mind. No memories. No name.

No fear.

Papyrus wasn’t able to think. Not in the same way where he’d been so afraid, and wanted to burn and claw and lash out. Not in the same way where he’d been calm, and everything seemed strange and new and interesting.

There was simply nothing. Something from the outside pushed into his blank mind - trying to control it from the inside out. To command it to…

To _listen._

The shock of the blankness had paralysed him, at first. He was shaken - and almost relieved. The stress and fear he’d felt had vanished, and for a moment, he couldn’t picture anything else…

And then, there was a pull.

There was a nagging, pulling feeling, pushing back against the blankness. A voice that he hadn’t even recognised as his own at the time had seeped through into his mind.

 

_(… WHY?)_

 

Papyrus knew that he had slipped into his… ‘hazy’ side at that point. But even then - even when he wasn’t sure who he was or what was happening, a thought had emerged from the blankness.

_… Why did he have to obey this monster?_

He didn’t like this. He didn’t like being told what to do…

Papyrus remembered giving his warnings - quiet snarls and growls (notably lacking in pleases and thankyous). He’d asked the doctor to go away. Leave him be. Let him go.

The doctor had only pushed back harder. Papyrus remembered the sudden surge of alarm that had flooded him soon after.

He’d realised that he wasn’t safe. The voice that had taken away his fear was not safe. Very much the opposite.

He'd realised that he did not have to listen.

...He did not _want_ to listen.

 

_FIX… YOUR MISTAKE._

 

The voice came from much farther behind Papyrus than he’d believed the doctor to be. He stole a quick look backwards, spotting Gaster atop the Blaster skull several feet away, which was hovering lower and lower to the ground.

Papyrus raised an eyebrow. What on Earth was he talking about?

‘Mistake?’ What mistake?

 ** _… YOU ARE IN THE WAY, AGAIN._** Seethed the doctor. His array of back-arms began to twitch - two still grasping the horns of the Blaster, and one beginning to claw at his own head.

The weapon chattered its teeth. The white circles in its eye sockets began to flicker, as if unfocused.

Papyrus turned his head around to face forward, once more.

 _< OF COURSE I’M IN THE WAY!  >_ He growled, aloud - mostly to keep himself focused. _< I’M GOING TO STAY IN THE WAY, AND MAKE SURE THINGS ARE VERY INCONVENIENT FOR YOU!  >_

He still felt shaken. Gaster was an unpleasant foe, after all - and he’d come to learn that direct dealings with this monster didn’t go well at all. But he couldn’t let himself freeze up on the spot. He still had a job to do! He needed to protect his friends!

And that plan was… _kind_ of succeeding!

Papyrus understood that he was a target, now. Gaster would pursue him - and Papyrus could lead him away from Sans, Frisk and Undyne!

...The problem was, he surely could not run forever.

 **YOU NEED TO BE REMINDED. OVER, AND OVER.** Gaster suddenly laughed. **YOU DON’T LISTEN. YOU WON’T LET US IN. ARE YOU THAT AVERSE TO OUR CONTRIBUTIONS?**

Papyrus blinked, confused.

_< … WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? >_

_THE MUTAGEN HAS STOPPED WORKING IN YOUR FAVOUR._ Came a more detached tone. _CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITIES. IS IT THE VARIANT IN SUBJECTS? OR A FLAW IN MUTAGEN?_

Papyrus continued running, brow furrowed. _ < … I DON’T BELIEVE THE MUTAGEN HAS EVER REALLY WORKED IN MY FAVOUR! > _He rebuked. Papyrus knew he wasn’t being understood, as usual… but the doctor’s words did not seem directed at him at all.

Papyrus was startled to hear a chuckle.

 **THIS JUST ISN’T YOUR DAY, IS IT?** Gaster’s voice suddenly sounded cheerful. **YOU WERE DEPENDING ON HAVING A TRUMP CARD. AND NOW HE’S OUT OF YOUR HANDS.**

Papyrus blinked.

 _< A-AND YOU APPEAR TO HAVE A FEW CARDS SHORT OF A FULL DECK!  > _Remarked the beastly skeleton, wide-eyed.

No wonder the doctor was slowing down. He seemed to be very occupied with holding a conversation with himself.

**_HE’S USELESS, NOW._ **

The beastly skeleton flinched. That voice sounded a lot more like the Gaster he was familiar with. But… that voice was getting closer.

**_HE’S BECOME DANGEROUS… I…_ **

A throaty laugh echoed out from behind him, and Papyrus stole another quick glance over his shoulder. The Blaster’s eye sockets had lit back up - it had righted itself, and begun to speed towards him - focused.

Gaster’s vast array of arms twitched, releasing the horns and the side of his head. They retracted into his back a little, as if wary of their possessor. The doctor crouched low upon the skull, a hand squarely placed atop its forehead to brace himself.

Small pinpricks of violet appeared within his eyesockets.

 ** _I HAVE TO DISPOSE OF HIM._** He muttered.

Light surged into the Blaster’s maw. Papyrus grew alarmed as he yanked his head back to face forward, watching the walkway continue on for much, much longer than what was convenient.

He was suspended over an abyss. He was trapped on a narrow path. He could not dodge.

**_I HAVE TO DESTROY HIM NOW!_ **

Something landed _hard_ upon the middle of his spine.

Papyrus let out a yelp of surprise, almost forgetting to continue his pace - but the heat of the building laser spurred him to try running faster. A loud PING echoed throughout the space -

\- soon followed by the laser blast itself.

Papyrus felt the weight on his back suddenly increase with the impact - but there was no pain.

He was startled to see several smaller beams suddenly shoot past his head from behind, as if redirected. The heat of the laser was unmistakable - but something on his back was blocking it!

The beams impacted on either side of the end of the walkway. The walkway ended, giving space to a more stable, walled corridor.

Relieved to no longer be suspended above an abyss, Papyrus finally glanced over his shoulder at the weight on his back.

The captain of the Royal Guard was currently crouched low, facing back towards Gaster. She had cast a GREEN attack on herself, and was holding the resulting shield upwards in the path of the laser fire. The last of the beam fizzled away, and she stood up straight, her stance wide.

 _< UNDYNE!  > _Papyrus chirped, happily.

“WHAT THE _HELL_ WERE YOU THINKING, BONEHEAD?!” She roared back, over her shoulder. “I TOLD YOU TO SIT TIGHT!”

Wowie. Her eye was twitching.

 _< I DID SIT TIGHT!  > _Papyrus protested, wide-eyed. _ < AND THEN, AFTER THAT WAS DONE, I STARTED MOVING AGAIN! >_

Undyne’s expression grew blank.

“Okay, I have no freaking clue what you just said, but I’m willing to bet that it was a smart-aleck comment.” She muttered under her breath.

A second laser blast sounded, and Undyne spun to the source and brought up her shield in preparation. With a wider space to work with however, Papyrus faced forward and dodged to the left, evading the blast.

Ignoring the smell of smouldering metal, the skeleton realised that they were rapidly approaching the final turnoff to the CORE exit - with one last suspended walkway before them.

This one appeared to be made of reinforced glass. Semi-powered green circuitry flickered through the panes from below. There were three mechanical columns on each side of the walkway - and between them were strange, floating nodes with lenses.

“We gotta think of a strategy, Pap.” Undyne muttered. “If he corners us, at least we know he can’t capture you!”

Papyrus gave a gravelly sort of bark, startled. The inflection must had come off as a question, because Undyne grinned back down at him.

“Of course I saw!” She beamed. “Fuhuhuhuhu! You shook him off like the SLIME he is!!!”

Another laser whine sounded as they reached the glass walkway, and Undyne turned to shield the blast directly, a sharp-toothed grin upon her features.

“WHAT?! DID I HIT A _NERVE???”_ She roared over the laser fire as the shield braced against it.

 ** _YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN THE ABYSS._** Snarled Gaster, as the last of the blast dissolved off Undyne’s barrier. **_YOUR CONSTANT INTERFERENCE IS A CIRCUMSTANTIAL PUNCHLINE THAT I’M GROWING QUITE WEARY OF -_**

He was cut off by the sight of several blue lasers suddenly shooting through his form.

Startled, Papyrus found himself skidding to a halt as he reached the other side of the walkway, swerving around to face the doctor.

Shooting out from the nodes to the left of the glassy platform was a sudden array of blue lasers passing directly through Gaster and the Blaster skull. He had frozen in midair, the violet light in his eye sockets shrinking into pinpricks - completely aware of the position he was in.

The CORE defences had been reactivated.

 

“D-Don’t… _move!”_

 

The voice came from behind the doctor, on the other side of the glass walkway. Papyrus leaned to the left to get a better view, though was aware of Undyne suddenly clambering up to the back of his head.

The ex-Royal Scientist was dishevelled. She had a small fracture in one of her lenses, and a thin layer of muck on her white lab coat. She stood hunched near a console on the wall, a steel panel pulled open.

One hand was crackling with magical electricity to power the console, and the other hovering over the wirings within.

“I-If you move, or turn… y-your weapon will be splinters.” She said, trembling “S-so don’t… move!”

Papyrus shut an eye as Undyne stepped atop his skull, her expression lighting up fully for the first time in a while.

**_“ALPHYS!”_ **

The lizard monster perked up at the voice, her eyes wide. She yanked one of her claws out of the console, still keeping one hand attached to the wiring to keep it powered.

“U-Undyne! Be careful!” She called, cupping around her mouth. “He can s-still shoot!”

The captain held her shielded arm high.

“We got plenty of space to dodge!” She grinned. “And even if he tries hitting us head-on, we’re covered!”

Papyrus growled triumphantly, in affirmation. But he was a little surprised when Alphys suddenly stared directly at him, wide-eyed.

She suddenly paled, sweat beading on her forehead.

...Oh.

She did not recognise him.

Alphys never seen Papyrus like this. Hopefully she wasn’t scared out of her mind! Undyne was right here, standing atop his head - and he hadn’t done anything to suggest he was hostile!

 _“… Sans?”_  

The beastly skeleton drew back.

Alphys had been staring directly at him when she'd spoken. She seemed to be scrutinising him, unblinking.

Careful not to throw Undyne off-balance, he slowly shook his head in response.

“…right here, al.”

The voice came from further away. Papyrus’ head snapped forward, spotting his brother and Frisk jogging across the previous walkway together, slowing as they approached the scene. Sans held a protective arm out to keep Frisk behind him.

The lizard monster turned to face their approach. Papyrus could not see her expression from there, but noted that she was shaking.

Alphys looked back at Papyrus. Then back at Sans.

Her free claw rose to her mouth.

“… oh my God.” She whispered, shakily.

**_…I REALLY SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE._ **

Papyrus snapped back to attention, looking up at Gaster atop the Blaster skull. He had not budged an inch. His expression was blank, glancing over his shoulder at Alphys - though careful not to turn his head in the presence of the laser field.

His gaze returned to Undyne.

 ** _WELL DONE. YOU APPEAR TO HAVE ME AT A DISADVANTAGE._** The doctor said, looking down. **_I AM DOWN TO MY LAST FUNCTIONAL BLASTER._**

He glanced to the side. 

**_WITHIN REACH, OF COURSE._ **

Papyrus could see Sans step back, slightly. A small smirk wormed onto the doctor's features, as he glanced back up at Undyne.

**_I AM SURPRISED YOU HAVE NOT CHOSEN TO FINISH ME OFF, HERE AND NOW._ **

Papyrus blinked.

Gaster sure seemed a lot more… collected than he was, a few minutes ago. No conversations with himself at all. But at the very least, he wasn’t chasing after them, or shooting.

Still - he felt a small tug in his instincts.

Something wasn’t quite right…

“I could crush you here and now, _asshole_.” Undyne growled at him, her gaze flicking to Alphys. “It looks like you’ve given us all enough grief to last a lifetime."

She stood up straight. “But you’ve got a couple of messes to fix, first.”

Gaster’s eyes darted down to Papyrus.

 ** _… INDEED._** He muttered, coldly.

“Now. I’m gonna show a little mercy and give you a chance to change them both back.” Undyne muttered, gritting her teeth. “Tell us how to get rid of this sickness! Or I sweep out that last Blaster from under you and send you on a little trip down into the abyss!”

There was a silence. Gaster seemed to study Papyrus for a long while, raising an eyebrow.

 ** _‘GET RID OF IT,’ YOU SAY?_** He chuckled, staring through the beams with an amused smile.

There was a brief silence. Undyne crouched low atop Papyrus’ head.

“Sans told me that you’re the one manipulating this sickness!" Snarled the captain. “So manipulate it in _our_ favour, for a change! Get it out of their systems!”

The green shield crackled upon her arm. “You’re the reason Papyrus is stuck like this! And you’re the reason I’ve had to put up with a panicking bag of bones!”

The beastly skeleton huffed up at Undyne in offence. She snorted.

“I’m telling it like it is, Pap!”

_“it’s not that simple.”_

Papyrus looked over at his brother, whose eye sockets were closed. He seemed to be grasping at his head, again. Frisk hovered next to him, concerned.

“i told you before, cap.” He muttered. “it’s gaster's _presence_ that’s affecting us like this.”

He lifted his hand from his hooded skull. “the illness is keyed to his magical signature, remember? it's gotten stronger, the more he'd inched into existence...”

When his eye sockets reopened, they were completely black.

“… remember the plan to get back to the CORE?” He asked. “the only way to make sure the sickness goes away is to get _gaster out of the picture."_  

Sans' eye sockets narrowed.

"that means erasing him from the physical plane, or _dusting_ him here and now.”

Frisk and Alphys spun to face Sans. Papyrus gave an alarmed bark.

… _Kill_ Gaster?

The beastly skeleton lowered his head, nervously.

It… it was true Gaster was dangerous. It was true that the doctor had put everyone through a lot of suffering.

But… to kill him was…

 

**_…HE IS CORRECT._ **

 

Papyrus spun back to Gaster, wide-eyed.

The doctor remained perfectly still - raising an eyebrow. **_THE MUTAGEN…_**

His eyes narrowed. **_NO. THIS… ‘SICKNESS,’ AS YOU’VE CHOSEN TO CALL IT… I DID NOT CREATE IT WITH ANY ‘CURE’ IN MIND._**

There was a silence.

“What the hell are you saying?” Undyne said, eye growing wide.

Papyrus felt his sternum grow tight, as Gaster stared down at him once more. His expression morphed into a glare.

**_THIS ‘SICKNESS’ WAS MADE TO COMPLETELY INFECT ONE’S SOUL. SO FAR AS I AM CONCERNED… IT CANNOT BE REMOVED. IT IS COMPLETELY INTERWOVEN WITH YOUR MAGIC._ **

For a moment, Papyrus’ limbs suddenly felt very weak.

 

_< … W…WHAT?  >_

 

 ** _I DON’T PRECISELY KNOW HOW YOU HAVE MANAGED TO SHAKE OFF MY COMMANDS._** Gaster continued, lowly. **_BUT EVERYTHING ELSE ABOUT THIS MUTAGEN OBVIOUSLY REMAINS SUBJECT TO MY WILL._**

He closed his eyes.

**_REGARDLESS. YOU’RE NOT OF MUCH USE TO ME, ANYMORE._ **

A smile crept across his features.

**_A SHAME. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN… REDEEMING FOR YOU, IN THE FACE OF YOUR STRING OF FAILURES._ **

Stuck like this...

... he was stuck like this?

Papyrus felt unsteady on all fours all over again. They suddenly felt wrong… out of place…

He felt his SOUL thrum, quietly - pushing to map out how he used to be… how he _should_ be.

Papyrus was… he was supposed to have hands. Arms, legs and feet…

He was supposed to be himself.

…

 

Papyrus drew in a breath.

 

He gripped the floor with his claws, and suddenly - he felt his body relax, again. His coordination was restored.

Papyrus was _already_ himself.

This form wasn’t familiar to him. He was still unsure of it. But it was what he had! 

And he would not let such a thing slow him down!

Papyrus stood tall, the weakness in his limbs suddenly fading. 

 _< I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO. > _He chirped. _ <AND IT’S INCREDIBLY RUDE OF YOU! >_

He stepped forward. Surely, he could not be understood. But he had something to say!

 _< I ALSO KNOW YOU’RE CAPABLE OF INCREDIBLE THINGS! … VERY STRANGE, FRIGHTENING, SURREAL THINGS, HONESTLY.  >_ He added, glancing aside.

 _(“… What'd he say?”_ Alphys asked, turning to Frisk. They shrugged.)

_< SO IF YOU CAN DO ALL THAT, I’M SURE YOU HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO STOP ALL THIS. WE DON’T HAVE TO FIGHT. MAYBE WE CAN HELP YOU FIND ANOTHER SOLUTION!  >_

He stepped forward. _< WE CAN HELP YOU FIND ANOTHER WAY!  >_

Gaster’s eyes bored into him.

 

 ** _… THERE IS NO OTHER WAY._** He said, flatly.

 

There was a silence.

Sans stared over at him, blue flickering from the shadows of his hood. A startled Papyrus stepped back, eye sockets wide.

Of all the people that he wanted to understand his strange new speech, the skeleton confessed that Gaster was fairly low on the list.

“…You’re freaking _sick_ , you know that?”

Papyrus’ attention returned to Undyne. He could feel her trembling with rage.

“You took one of the kindest monsters in the entire Underground, and… turned him into _this.”_ She said, softly. “And you’re telling me that it was always meant to be _permanent?”_

 ** _DON’T BE SO MELODRAMATIC._** Gaster blinked. **_THE SOLUTION IS OBVIOUS, IS IT NOT?_**

He let one of his unbound hands gesture to the beastly skeleton. ** _YOU CAN DESTROY ME. YOU HAVE THE MEANS RIGHT HERE._**

A chill went through Papyrus’ bones. He stepped back, a quiet whine sounding - almost involuntarily, as he recalled the fiery sensation of the laser building in his jaws.

Gaster’s expression twisted into a smile at his reluctance.

Papyrus wouldn’t _destroy_. The doctor did not seem to understand that -

\- or perhaps he understood it all too well.

He felt Undyne shift atop his skull, and realised she had moved to stand up straight. He heard the GREEN shield crackle a little with violent energy.

_“You don’t get to freaking tell him what to do.”_

Papyrus blinked.

He had never heard Undyne’s voice sound so dangerous, before.

 ** _OH?_** Gaster raised his eyebrows. **_…DID I HIT A NERVE?_**

“Shut up.” The captain snarled.

 ** _I AM MERELY STATING YOUR OPTIONS._** He stated. **_YOU SHOULD MAKE USE OF WHAT YOU HAVE._**

_“Shut UP.”_

An epiphanic smile cracked across Gaster’s face.

**_I HAVE FAILED TO KEEP HIM UNDER MY COMMAND. SURELY, THE SITUATION IS TO USE MY OWN WEAPON AGAINST ME -_ **

_“STOP_ ** _CALLING_** _HIM THAT!!!”_ Undyne roared.

She dismissed her GREEN shield in a crackle of violent energy to summon a multitude of spears directly at the scientist.

Something large and white materialised directly in front of Papyrus, who flinched back.

**_I TOLD YOU. I ONLY HAVE ONE FUNCTIONAL BLASTER LEFT._ **

Papyrus’ eye sockets grew wide.

A broken-looking Blaster had been summoned right before them - just in front of the blue laser field.

It had a massive crack across its eye socket - extinguishing the light pupil from within. It crackled with familiar cyan energy - and the skeleton realised who had damaged it before it had been dismissed away into the doctor’s inventory.

It hovered in the air erratically, though its focus was drawn to Papyrus.

Its teeth chattered - a wave of light suddenly surging to its maw.

**_MY OTHER ONE IS… FRENZIED._ **

Papyrus jerked back, out of the Blaster’s line of fire as the steel floor burned under the blast. The skull flailed around, shooting blindly at walls, floors - and finally, the laser nodes themselves.

The laser field deactivated.

Dismissing her spears, Undyne hurriedly re-summoned her GREEN attack shield. However, still standing up straight, she could not brace against the laser fire and was blasted clean off of Papyrus’ head.

The beastly skeleton spun with a shriek, watching as his friend hit the floor. A second laser charge echoed through the halls, and Papyrus spun to face the blast.

 

There was the sound of something _shattering._

 

 

* * *

 

  
****

_Sans was startled out of his thoughts by the smash of glass._

_The sound was distant, but still enough to make him stumble a little. His four-legged pace still was unsteady and uncertain upon the facility corridor tiles._

_“W-What was that?!”_

_Blinking slowly, the Blaster glanced up to his left. It was Reno who had spoken._

_Since they had begun their slow trek through the facility, the red monster hadn’t let go of the leftmost horn that poked out of the Blaster’s skull. He stooped a little to accommodate Sans’ height, like he usually did - though not as much as he usually had to._

_Muffled shouts echoed down the hall. Sans did not recognise the voices, at first._

_He could not remember a time hearing them raised, before now._

_“… They’re having it out.” Mumbled Sprig._

_“In the control room?” Owel asked, quietly._

_Sans slowly turned his body around, focusing carefully on his footfalls. He whined softly, glancing up at his mentor._

_They’d been walking through the CORE facility for a few minutes, now - in search of the back exit. They all kept to Sans’ own slow and unsteady pace, despite the danger. They’d wandered the main hall of the facility in a circular path that surrounded the CORE chamber with the building itself._

_The reinforced glass windows that occasionally popped up on the inner walls gave a view of the crackling CORE chamber itself - though Sans was reluctant to look, at the moment._

_“…Val can handle themself against the doc.” Sprig said, quietly._

_“I-It’s not Val I’m worried about!” Reno said, releasing Sans. “I-If they’re roughhousing in there, terrible, terrible things could happen!”_

_Owel's tail twitched._

_“They’re smarter than that. They have to be.” She turned to the Blaster. “Right now, we need to get the kid far away from the doctor.”_

_Sans looked up at her._

_...The fact that his friends were here to protect him reassured him greatly. They’d proven that they could keep him safe. They’d managed to keep him away from the doc, so far._

_He took in a deep breath._

_… so, why did he still feel so **nervous?**_

_This was a horrible situation. Gaster had transformed him into… into one of his weapons. He was in danger… and so were his friends._

_His bones began to rattle, slightly._

_But more than that, this was…_ **_he_ ** _was…_

_Sans couldn’t **focus**. It was so hard to think straight._

_He shook his head a little._

_It wasn’t just his body that had changed. His mind wasn’t… working right. He’d noticed it as he’d transformed - what had been simple and straightforward had become complex. What was clear before was muddied up by a haze._

_He’d frozen up so many times, when… when the_ **_real_ ** _Sans would have acted._

_Whatever this mutagen was… it was messing with him. Badly._

_Would he be… stuck like this, forever?_

 

_“...I think we’ve hit a roadblock on our escape plan.”_

 

_Sprig’s tense voice snapped the Blaster out of his thoughts._

_“… and I mean that literally.”_

_Sans blinked, glancing blearily up at his escorts. Owel and Sprig had wandered over to a large, reinforced steel door - the bottom trimmed with cautionary yellow and black stripes._

_The signage on the wall around it suggested this was the back exit._

_“This is meant to be unobstructed.” Owel said, firmly. “Why’s the floor in lockdown?”_

_“I-I don't get it..." Reno stuttered, and Sans could see him shaking. “Floor-specific lockdowns don’t… don’t happen, unless…”_

_A loud crackle from within the CORE chamber caught their attention. The four scientists turned to see the sphere of energy crackling violently._

_It was slowly **expanding**._

_The CORE was churning with hues of red, orange and yellow. But Sans could spot a splash of light blue branching out across its surface, causing the colours to churn and swirl - causing the energy to crackle and spark, coloured flames billowing out of the sphere itself._

_Owel leaned forward. “… The laser blast.” She whispered. “It smashed through the control room window and into…”_

_Reno’s ears stood on end._

_“ ‘In the event of a chamber breach,’ ” He recited, “ ‘all affected floors will be sealed from the rest of the facility.’ ”_

_“The magic composition of the blast must have affected the CORE’s energy.” Owel said, drawing in a breath. “It’s becoming_ **_unstable._ ** _”_

_Sans’ legs grew weak and unsteady._

_The Blaster’s skull began to lower, his gaze becoming unfocused._

_The CORE was unstable…_

 

_… because he’d…_

 

 _“Kid?_ **_Kid!_ ** _Sans!”_

_Sans hurriedly shook himself out, realising that the dim halls around him were flickering blue. He blinked, and the flashing subsided._

_Sprig had approached him, concerned. “You still with us, kid?”_

_The skeleton gave a nod, a low rumble in his throat. He felt his eyesockets go dim._

_…He’d panicked, near the control room. He’d gone in a frenzy. His source of comfort had been taken away. He didn’t know where he’d been aiming - he’d simply hoped to lash out at anything that could hurt him…_

_… had he doomed them all?_

_The other three monsters must have picked up on his horror, because they all stepped towards him. He stepped back, letting out a strangled whimper._

_“Sans, I want you to listen to me.” Sprig said, firmly. “This is_ **_not_ ** _your fault.” He looked back down the hall, face twisted in thought. “… We need you to stay calm.”_

_The Blaster took in a shaky breath._

_Yeah. Right. Stay calm..._

_Stay **here.**_

_“P-perhaps he can… I don’t know - laser blast open the door?” Murmured Reno._

_“If the CORE’s having a proper meltdown, we’ve long missed the window of time to escape the blast radius.” Owel said, curtly. “Blasting the doors won’t be any help, now.”_

_“…It could help him make tracks from Gaster, at least.” Sprig said, looking down at Sans. “He could stay hidden.”_

_His face fell as the Blaster suddenly snarled, quickly shaking his head. His bones rattled slightly._

_No._ _He_ **_really_ ** _didn’t want to use that thing again. He remembered how powerful the blast itself was. What if he lost control, again? What if he hit the CORE, making things worse?!_

_He didn’t want to risk doing any more damage than he’d already done. And he didn’t know the first thing about using that laser in the first place._

_… besides, his throat was still burning terribly._

_“Th-then he can teleport!” Reno said, perking up. “A-at least Sans can escape… right?”_

_Sans looked over at the red monster, an uncertain growl sounding._

_The last thing Sans wanted right now was to be alone. Or leave his friends in the dust. And he wasn’t keen on using his teleportation right now, considering…_

_… considering it had gotten him into this mess in the first place._

_Still._

_He focused, a little startled at the sensation of his magic thrumming through his skull. It was… directing strangely. Like the passage to his SOUL had been messed with._

_Nonetheless, he felt the familiar sensation of his eye socket activating - and the telltale blue and yellow began to flash in the dim lighting._

_A loud and angry roar of static assaulted him from all angles._

_With a yowl, he stumbled back, wide-eyed._

_The black rifts around him were a_ **_lot_ ** _larger than he remembered._

_Black particles seemed to be surging out of them - as if concentrated. His eye socket began to sting. The roaring grew louder, and Sans shut his eyes, deactivating his eye socket._

_“Kid?”_

_The Blaster shook himself out, frazzled. He whined apologetically up at his mentors, shaking his head._

_The rifts looked incredibly **unstable.**  It was unlike anything the young skeleton had seen before. While they'd always appeared pretty intimidating, the rifts usually appeared stationary - strong and secure. **These** looked like someone had clawed them open further than they'd meant to be. _

_Sans didn’t want to entertain the thought of stepping into one at this point in time._

_Reno deflated. “I-It was worth a shot.”_

_A loud whirr of machinery echoed through the CORE chamber, and the four turned to look once more. Two mechanical crane arms were unfolding from the chamber walls, moving towards the giant ball of energy, a green glow emitting from their ends._

_Sans swallowed._

_The heat of the CORE was causing the arms to slowly droop and melt into white hot liquid steel as soon as they touched its surface._

_Chunks of melted metal dropped into what remained of the evaporating coolant below, hissing loudly as they splashed into the liquid._

_“It’s too hot to operate the machinery.” Sprig said, teeth gritted. “At least Val’s trying to get stuff done.”_

_“They won’t be able to do a whole lot!” Reno said, eyes growing wide. “Not by sharing the same s-space as the CORE element!”_

_There was a pause. Sans blinked in realisation._

_He was right. The CORE element was attracted to any sign of magic use - if he and the doctor were any example to go by. If Val was in the control room with the broken window, they wouldn’t be able to use their telekinetic magic on the controls as usual without risk of being hurt._

_Or worse…_

_“… We need to help them.” Owel muttered. “… Gaster might be making things harder for them.”_

_Reno perked up, ears standing on end. “Th-the doctor’s gotta understand what an emergency this is!” He said, wide-eyed. “Perhaps he’ll come to his senses!”_

_“The doc hasn’t been sensible in_ **_months._ ** _”  Muttered Owel. “If he was about to greenlight a coolant test that risked the_ **_entire_ ** _Underground, why in Asgore’s name would he be reasonable enough to start cooperating - ”_

_The sea green monster suddenly paused. A rare, wide-eyed look appeared upon her stony features._

_There was a silence, as Sprig reached over and waved in front of her face._

_“We’re, uh… running short on time here, buddy.” He said._

_“… the_ **_coolant._ ** _”_

_There was a silence._

_“Whatever we have at the bottom of the chamber right now isn’t good enough to prevent a meltdown.” Owel said, eyes remaining wide as she began stepping in the direction of the control room. “The coolant we’ve been working on… Solution Sigma has_ ** _not_ **_been_ _tested on something of this scale…but…”_

_Her eyes shut. “This is it.” She said, exasperated. “I’m sounding like a maniac.”_

_“We_ **_are_ ** _pretty desperate, here.” Sprig said, flatly._

_“… W-we don’t know what'll happen.” Reno said, shakily. “Too many variables! T-Too many possibilities!”_

_“Then find a pen and write them all down.” Sprig sighed. “We don’t have a lot of options, here.”_

_Owel closed her eyes. “… This is our best shot.” She muttered, quietly. Then, she gave the hall a glance. “Coolant’s already in one of the storage canisters, right?”_

_“Thankfully, on the control room floor.” Sprig said, flatly. “What’re the odds?”_

_“Reno, you stick with Sans. Sprig, you’re with me. Can’t use my magic, so you gotta be my arms.” Owel said, before turning back to Reno. “Keep Sans safe.”_

_The trembling monster nodded back, his ears drooping back. “O-okay.”_

_Owel’s eyes narrowed, as she stared down at the floor._

_“Congratulations, doctor.” She muttered under her breath. “You get to have your insane experiment, after all.”_

_She and Sprig darted off down the hall._

_Sans stared after them in silence._

_He felt nervous, watching them go. He’d felt a lot safer in a group. Not to discredit Reno or anything._

_He took in a deep breath, as the red monster placed a hand on his shoulder._

_The CORE thundered again, and both he and Reno glanced up through the window. It was expanding further - the flames billowing out of it like a sun._

_He saw the blue energy streak across its surface once more._

_Sans shut his eye sockets._

_… **His** fault._

_He’d done this..._

_...and he couldn’t fix it. He couldn't do **anything.** He needed to be **protected** , now._

_Sans was the weak link. If Gaster got to him, it was all over..._

_He couldn’t jump. Couldn’t use his laser, couldn’t run - he was sealed in here…_

_His bones began to rattle._

_Val could be hurt. Owel and Reno may not be able to make it with the coolant in time…_

_… and who was to say their plan would work?!_

_Sans’ breathing grew shaky._

_The panic was getting worse._

_What could he… what could he_ **_do?_ **

_He was trapped._

_His bones began to chatter. The blue light in his eye sockets flickered, as his mind began to slowly slip, once more._

_He was_ **_trapped._ **

_“Sans… Sans, calm down…” Reno hovered next to him, noting his trembling. “D-Deep breaths! I-It’s going to be okay!”_

_A loud, electronic screech echoed through the Blaster’s mind, and he suddenly froze._

_He listened to it almost desperately._

_Tones of white noise. Of screeching and buzzing._

_Tones that drowned everything else out…_

_He was being called, again._

_Where there’d been resistance before, there was now desperation. The overwhelming panic he’d felt took hold. His fears took hold, turning his head to look for its source._

_He slowly turned to look down the hall._

_The red monster next to him said something. He wasn’t sure what._

_He didn’t care._

_He was being called. He was being called - he had to return._

_He stepped forward._

_Yes. That would… that would calm him down. That would take everything away - the fear would go away, he would be safe -_

_He lunged into a gallop. The red monster yelled after him, but the beast’s vision tunnelled as he charged onwards, focusing on the sound of the voice._

_It would make things better. It had to._

_It_ **_had_ ** _to!_

_The hall blurred around him with his velocity. Orange light beamed through the windows. Another loud crackle sounded, and he sped up._

_…The voice was getting louder. He was getting close._

 

_“ - has **happened** to you, Wingding?”_

 

_He blinked._

_Another voice. A new voice. It was distant, quiet and muffled._

**_“You will let me out of this room, old friend.”_ ** _Came a snarl._ **_“Unless you plan to take me down with you?”_ **

_A second voice. Familiar. Cold._

_Peaceful._

_He was close._

_“The CORE must be contained.” The first voice said, firmly. “You pose a danger to my co-workers. I cannot allow you to run rampant, and_ **_insist_ ** _that you stop this madness and **help** me.”_

_An airy laugh sounded._

**_“…It seems my trust has always been_ misplaced _, old friend.”_ **

_The voice was getting louder. The Blaster was approaching a sealed door to a windowed room, brightly lit in yellows, reds and oranges…_

 

_PING._

 

_The Blaster was stopped in his tracks. His feet and claws scrabbled across the ground, but he remained trapped on the spot._

_He thrashed around with a yowl._

_Something had captured him!_

_He’d been so close! So close to forgetting about all this!_

_So close to being_ **_safe!_ **

_There was a flash of crimson to his side. He snapped at it, snarling as he missed the red monster completely. They darted to his front, green energy glowing within their hands._

_He began to thrash around again._

_How_ **_dare_ ** _they keep him away! How dare they trap him like this!_

_Light surged to his maw._

_Had to run - had to claw **ha**_ **_d to bite had to tear -_ **

_The beast felt hands suddenly pushing his upper jaw down, in an attempt to keep his maw shut._

_“I-I’m sorry, Sans!” The red monster said. “Y-you have to stop! Snap out of it! I-It’s gonna be okay!_

_Their teeth gritted, eyes shut. “I-I said I’d keep you safe!”_

_The Blaster paused, the energy within his jaws beginning to splutter and dissolve._

_Keep him… safe?_

_**"I've had many regrets, Val."** _

_He heard footsteps from within the other room, slow and deliberate._

**_"And now, you are one of them."_ **

_****There was a crash. A scream._

_There was a whirr of machinery. The red monster’s eyes shot open._

_“Oh no.”_

_The steel door of the windowed room had slid open behind him, revealing a large space with a large window._

_The creature blinked._

_The window was shattered. Beyond it was a churning ball of coloured light. Heat._

_Four concrete benches, built into the floor, were positioned in a square formation, centring the room. Atop them were glittering sets of glass. Some were smooth, untouched._

_Several had been smashed._

_The beast’s gaze rose to the sight of an orange serpentine monster at a large machine covered in blinking lights and buttons, just below the window._

_Shards littered the ground around them, and they themself had several scratches on their side. They had flung away a figure decked in black, sending them sprawling onto the floor before him._

_“Stop trying to operate the door controls.” They said, lowly. "Or I shall give you more things to regret."_

_Raucous laughter rang out from the black-clad figure, as he stumbled to his feet._

**_“I have had plenty of them, old friend. They've lost their bite! Including YOU!” _ ** _He yelled, charging at the orange monster._

_They whipped their tail around, sending the hapless figure against the wall. He slid down from the impact, wide-eyed and smile dropping._

_“You are_ **_not_ ** _well, Wingding.” The serpentine monster said, firmly. “Please stay put while I fix this.”_

_The Blaster strained forward against the forces that contained him._

_He needed to get in… he needed to get into the room…_

_The red monster, still holding tight to his muzzle, looked over his shoulder - sweating bullets._

_“V-VAL!!”_

_The orange monster spun at the sound of the voice._

_The figure in black did, too._

_He smiled._

_The large energy ball in the chamber suddenly seemed to crackle with an intense heat. Tendrils of energy suddenly rose from its surface, surging directly towards the broken window._

_The Blaster froze._

_“RENO! Deactivate your magic!” Cried the orange monster, slithering out of their path._

_The tendrils of violent energy surged to the red monster._

_Towards the beast._

 

* * *

 

**_Multicoloured strands of energy burst out of the glass cylinder, which exploded into glittering shards. Drawn to his magic, the energy surged towards the small skeleton._ **

 

**_Straight._ **

 

**_Into._ **

 

**_His eyesocket._ **

 

* * *

 

_The Blaster strained backwards against whatever force had trapped him, wide-eyed. Within moments, however, he felt the strange force suddenly release him._

_The strands of energy immediately faltered, and dissipated in their tracks. He felt the red monster’s grasp on him loosen, slightly._

**_“I was wondering when you’d get here.”_ **

_Prompted into action, the beastly skeleton tossed the red monster off his head, sending him sprawling onto the floor with a cry._

_He turned to the speaker, who was standing in the center of the room. A silhouette of black against the sphere of energy that churned in the main chamber. Violet lights shone within his cracked eyesockets._

_The sight was… familiar. ~~(…Frightening.)~~_

_“Sans!” The serpentine monster called to him, only to turn back to the blinking machine as a loud, thunderous crackle sounded from the chamber itself. They struggled to push buttons with their tail, their pupils shrinking into pinpricks._

_The Blaster stepped forward, hesitantly. Gaster reached out towards him._

**_“I’ll be taking my leave, then.”_ **

_A flash of red charged in front of him, grabbing a hold of the doctor’s arm. The Blaster shook his head, slightly._

_The red monster was in the way again. Kept getting in the way._

_Kept… Kept trying to stop him…_

_His throat rumbled with a low growl, the haze lifting further._

_…Wrong. This was wrong…_

_From behind the red monster, the beastly skeleton could not see his master’s expression. But he could hear his voice, dripping with discontent._

**_“…I really preferred it when you were a doormat.”_ ** _He muttered._

_The red monster wrestled the hand away._

_“I-I - y-you… despicable…m- **miserable** … **STUPID...!** ” He cried out. “I s-said I would keep Sans far away from you - and I _ **_will!_ ** _”_

_The Blaster blinked._

_Away…_

 

_Far… far away…_

 

 

* * *

  ** _“I-it’s gonna… be okay. We’re… going to get you out of here. We’re going to get you far, far away from here, okay?”_**

 

* * *

 

  _He’d said…_

_The Blaster blinked, panic rising._

_He’d said that… hadn’t he? He’d said…_

 

_… they’d all said…_

 

_There was a brief break in the fog in his mind, and he lunged for it desperately, grasping on tightly to his thoughts. Suddenly panicked, Sans rapidly shook his head and stumbled back to look up at Reno, still wrestling against the doctor’s arms._

_Sans had slipped again. Gaster had gotten to him again._

_The Blaster slowly backed away into the corner of the room, shivering. He struggled to process his thoughts - but they were still addled by the presence of the doctor. He couldn’t focus…_

_He drew in a shaking breath._

_Couldn’t let Gaster get him…_

_His eyes flickered blue._

_… but couldn’t leave Reno…_

_Gaster tilted his head._

**_“You’ve actually grown a spine.”_ ** _He muttered._ **_“When did that happen?”_ **  
****

_“When you weren’t… paying… attention!” Reno cried, straining against he grasp. The doctor snorted, landing a kick in the young monster’s stomach, before shoving him back to where the beastly skeleton cowered._

_Reno landed hard on the floor, and Sans cried out, startled. He stepped forward, only for the buzzing in his head to become louder - and veered back, shutting his eyes as Gaster reached for control, once more._

_“You will leave them_ **_both_ ** _alone if you value your wellbeing.” Uttered Val from the controls._

_The focus left Sans, and he crumpled to the floor, stunned. He watched as Reno shakily rose, standing defensively before him._

**_“Now, old friend.”_ ** _Gaster laughed, turning to face the serpentine monster._ **_“This is an incredibly bad time to multitask.”_ **

_“Sad to say, I do not see the humour in this situation.” Val said, firmly. “The CORE is suffering a meltdown. You have left your pupil malformed. The entire Underground is at risk.”_

_They glowered back at him. “And all you can do is laugh.”_

**_“I have a means of escape, no matter what happens.”_ ** _The doctor said, gesturing to Sans, who shrank back._

_“I told you. The blast radius may encompass the entire Underground. You may not survive, no matter where you run.” Val mused, turning away from the controls. “I am busy, old friend. And I can barely operate this console without my magic.”_

_Their eyes narrowed. “If you are not going to assist me in this, then you are_ **_in my way._ ** _”_

 _Gaster chuckled._ **_“…I can empathise, old friend.”_ **

_“Oh, hey! So can I!”_

_Sans was startled to see Owel suddenly charge through the control room door, head low. She collided_ **_hard_ ** _into Gaster’s back, sending him hurtling forward towards one of the benches, hitting his skull hard on its edge._

_He slumped to the ground in the centre of the room, unconscious. Owel straightened, shaking her head._

_She turned to Sans and Reno._

_“… I am obligated to tell you that violence is not the answer.” She said, stonefaced, as she walked over to the control panel. Sprig shambled after her, hugging a canister filled with a glowing blue liquid with both arms._

_The beastly skeleton and the red monster gave a tiny nod._

_“You have returned.” Val said, softly. Their eyes landed on Sprig, and widened in realisation._

_“…You intend to - ”_

_“We don’t have a lot of other options, Val.” The blue monster said, wandering over to a cylinder-shaped receptacle in the corner of the room. “It’s_ **_this_ ** _or trying to stabilise the core with melting instruments.”_

_The serpentine monster glanced over at the doctor._

_“Keep an eye on him. He may regain consciousness.” They looked up at Sans. “Stay as far back as you can, my dear.”_

_Finally, they looked at Reno._

_“I need to borrow your hands, my dear.” They said. “Out of those with limbs, you know these controls best. If we are going ahead with the coolant test, I require sequence 17.”_

_The red monster scurried forward, giving the unconscious Gaster in the middle of the room a wide berth before approaching the panel._

_Sans watched as Sprig placed the canister into the receptacle. With a shove and a twist, the mechanism locked into place. He backed away from it, hurrying back to Gaster’s position. For good measure, he placed his foot down on the edge of the scientist’s sleeve._

_“We ready?” Owel asked._

_“No.” Reno said._

_There was a brief pause, before his fingers rapidly began to punch at the buttons. The cylinder mechanism in the corner of the room gave a whining whirr, before the glowing blue liquid within slowly began to drain._

_The CORE crackled violently. Sans braced himself, backing up against the wall as Owel, Val and Reno stood together at the controls._

_The maze of water channels at the bottom of the CORE chamber were filled with the coolant, the glowing blue branching out amongst the passages. Despite the heat of the energy sphere, there was no sign of evaporating, or even boiling._

_The melting metal hissed with steam as the coolant travelled, and arcs of blue magic rose from the concoction up into the energy sphere itself._

_The effects were almost immediate. The heat radiating off the CORE itself began to subside. What remained of the melting panelling on the walls stayed put. Reno’s fingers continued to fly over the buttons, his gaze fixed on the chamber itself._

_“Is it over?” Sprig asked, carefully walking forward._

_The CORE slowly began to shrink. The crackling energy that surrounded it seemed to subside. Owel stared hard at the chamber itself, her intense expression reflected in what remained of the glass window._  
****

_“…Come on.” She breathed._

_There was the sound of tinkling glass. The beastly skeleton stared down at the tiled floor, watching as glass shards began slowly rolling forward, towards the shattered window._

_Pencils began rolling off desks, clattering onto the floor._

_Val slithered back from the controls, a concentrated look on their features - and Sans realised that they were meeting resistance in their movements. The end of their tail curled around the end of one of the built-in benches._

_“… Something is wrong.” They announced._

_The CORE’s colours suddenly grew cold. Purples, blues and greens began to churn on its surface as it seemed to compress in on itself._

_“C-Cooling is successful!” Reno yelled, backing away. “Explosion is c-contained!”_

_He paled. “But it’s trying to re-stabilise! The heat was causing expansion! B-but the c-cold is causing it to - ”_

_“Implode.” Owel mused._

_The pulling forces grew stronger around them. The scientists began to back away._

 

_The glass pieces began to fly towards the broken control room window._

  


	22. A Break (Part II)

****Papyrus was sent hurtling backwards.

Despite his large size, the force of the blast had thrown him off his feet, his skull snapping to the side as it received the brunt. He’d been sent flying towards the steel wall of the corridor’s end.

He landed hard against the floor with a screech of metal, rolled once and was still - the wall catching him from rolling any further.

Undyne’s shield dissolved off her arm. She sat up from her own place of impact, her eye dropping to the steel floor, which was suddenly littered with small, white shards.

There was a gaping hole on the left side of Papyrus’ skull.

It encompassed where his eye and upper left forehead should have been. His leftmost horn had been shattered, and detached shards were still falling free from the skeleton’s head.

They turned to dust the moment they hit the floor.

With a wave of his hand, Gaster dismissed the frenzied Blaster, standing tall atop his remaining one.

**_… HE IS A PUPIL OF YOURS, CORRECT?_ **

Numbly, Sans’ gaze dropped to Undyne, who had slowly risen to her feet. Her gaze was now fixed on Papyrus.

She was shaking.

**_YOU SHOULD HAVE TAUGHT HIM HOW TO BLOCK._ **

The world resumed motion. A terrifying scream sounded from the captain as she summoned a multitude of spears, hurling them all directly at the Blaster skull Gaster stood upon.

The arms on his back twitched to life. They surged forward, the wild and unpredictable nature of the limbs suddenly focused and concentrated. Several offending spears were caught in midair - the Blaster remaining completely intact.

Two spears went through Gaster’s lower torso.

Mechanically, his normal arms reached over to them, and yanked them out, decisively. The holes in his torso mended by the black mass of his body melting over them.

 ** _DO NOT TAKE YOUR AGGRESSIONS OUT ON ME._** He said, expression blank.

Sans’ vision grew tunnelled, focused directly on his brother.

He ripped his arm out of Frisk’s grasp and dashed forward to the left of the walkway, ignoring both Alphys and the human’s cries after him. He summoned a bone attack in midair, and threw it forward to hover above the dark chasm. He leapt onto it, summoning another bone to serve as a second step beside the glass walkway.

He moved to summon the third bone in his inventory - only to realise that it was currently splinters from his last encounter with the Blasters.

For a brief moment, Sans was free-falling down into the blackness of the abyss. One of his previously-summoned boned dropped down with him, and he grasped onto it, breaking his fall.

Sweat beaded on his skull, as he realised that the moment of hesitation had cost him.

He heard the hum of a floating Blaster approach, and he looked up to see Gaster peering down at him from above the walkway. The doctor’s excess arms began to twitch, and a couple surged forward at the smaller skeleton.

Sans froze.

A bolt of magical thunder suddenly hit Gaster from the side.

The doctor spun to his right to spot Alphys, trembling on the spot. Electricity crackled in her claws, and she stepped back as the doctor’s focus suddenly centred onto her.

Giving a quick glance over her shoulder, she suddenly moved to stand in front of Frisk.

Gaster’s expression suddenly seemed to become apathetic.

 _SO MANY MISTAKES TO FIX._ He hummed, as light surged to the Blaster’s maw.

Several energy spears suddenly surged forward, centring directly at the Blaster - only to be intercepted by the array of excess hands.

 **“DON’T YOU _DARE_ TOUCH HER!!!” ** Roared Undyne from the other end of the walkway.

She had summoned a wall of spears next to the downed Papyrus, and Sans realised that she was hesitant to leave his side.

The older skeleton swung himself back up on the bone, bringing the next up as a second step. He leapt across the alternating two bones - leaping greater and greater distances in desperation before he finally reached the captain’s position, dismissing them back into his inventory.

 

He froze at the sight of his brother.

 

The beastly skeleton was barely conscious.

He was rattling his bones, an eerie, clicking sound that echoed throughout the space. He was feebly pushing himself back into the steel wall. He was slowly trying to stand, his eye sockets flickering wildly with orange.

His head remained upon the ground as he struggled to lift himself up, as if it were several pounds too heavy. More shards clattered to the floor, and Undyne spun to face him, wide-eyed.

“PAPYRUS, _WAIT_ \- ”

 

**_PING._ **

 

Papyrus’ SOUL appeared, glowing BLUE. The force pulled gently downwards, carefully lowering the exhausted skeleton back down to the floor.

“i’ve got him.”

Sans didn’t look at Undyne while he walked forward, hand outstretched. He stayed focused on his magic attack, blocking everything else out.

“… help al. keep the doc off us.” He whispered. “i’ll… figure something out.”

It was a lie. Both he and the captain understood that. But Undyne wordlessly turned away from him, charging past him and towards the other end of the walkway, where Alphys yanked Frisk out of the path of another laser blast.

The wall of spears dissolved, and Sans eyed his injured brother.

The beastly skeleton was stirring again, slowly pulling in his limbs towards him. The floor rumbled quietly with a growl as the older skeleton approached.

Dizzy at the sight, Sans examined the injury. Papyrus was not crumbling to dust. He was tough… tougher and more enduring like this than his regular form.

…It wasn’t fatal, he told himself. It hadn’t been a fatal hit…  
****

But the blow itself had been debilitating. Papyrus was now completely helpless. He couldn’t run. He couldn’t fight.

The beast’s single eye slowly slid open, flickering orange. A second light faintly sparked from the darkness of the large hole in his skull, before fizzing out.

It didn’t take long for Sans to realise that Papyrus wasn’t lucid in the slightest.

He saw his surroundings flash blue. His own claw suddenly dug into the side of his head, and his breathing grew shaky.

Stay focused. Stay _focused_ … stay _calm_.

Teeth gritted painfully, he slowly stepped closer to Papyrus, whose eye-socket slid closed again in exhaustion. Nonetheless, he kept his BLUE attack trained on his brother.

“…just hold on.” He whispered - and he wasn’t sure if it was directed at himself or Papyrus.

 

_“… hold on…”_

 

 

* * *

 

 

_“HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!”_

 

_The forces around them grew stronger. Sans, despite his newfound weight, could feel himself slowly being pulled across the tiles._

_The CORE was shrinking - compressing into something smaller and darker. Pencils, pens and debris were being sucked out the control room window - and now, larger objects such as beakers, tools and other apparatuses were flinging outwards towards the energy ball._

_Eyesockets flickering, Sans dug his claws into the tiled floor with all his strength - partially terrified and partially impressed that he was strong enough to puncture the ground enough to get a grip._

_Val had slithered behind one of the built-in science benches, lying low out of the gravity’s pull. Reno had hurled himself behind another bench, Sprig following after him._

_Owel cringed, having hesitated too long. She pushed herself towards Sans from the control panel, holding her head low and bracing against the force as well as she could. With a startled cry, the beastly skeleton slowly stretched his foreleg towards her, doing his best to keep it anchored on the ground._

_She looked up at Sans’ leg, making a face._

_“Sorry, kid.”_

_With a lunge, her sharp teeth clamped around his leg. The beastly skeleton winced in pain, but at least she was secure. The rest of her body lifted up in the air from the force, and she glanced back at the CORE itself._

_Sans did his best to stay focused. The CORE seemed to shrink even further, and his claws continued to dig into the ceramics at the increasing force._

_His focus was lost when the smallest traces of an electronic buzz began to sound in his mind._

_His gaze darted to Gaster, still on the floor. He was pushing himself up on his hands and knees, dazed._

_Sans’ sternum grew tight._

_Everyone had taken cover at the benches closest to the control panel - out of reach of Gaster. The doctor had lost consciousness behind the next row of benches, further to the back to the room. Out of their reach. Which left Sans within his._

_He was glancing about the room in confusion, remaining crouched._

_As the forces around him grew stronger, his gaze fell on Sans, eyes narrowing._

_The Blaster hesitated, as the screeching buzzing began to well up in his mind, once more._

**_“Get me out of this place.”_ ** _Gaster said, reaching out to him._

_Sans’ jaw grew slack - the haze beginning to descend on his thoughts as the doctor focused all of his energy onto him. He tried to pull away from the demands, but the stress of the situation caused his mind to slip even faster._

 

_…Had to… had to_ **_help_ ** _…_

 

_“_ **_Sans!_ ** _Sans, snap_ **_out_ ** _of it!”_

_The Blaster didn’t know who was yelling. It did not matter._

_His grip on the floor loosened a little as the doctor reached out to him. He slowly began to slide towards him, inch by inch as the doctor slowly crawled forward, reaching out a hand…_

 

_… mere feet away…_

 

**_… Had to listen… had to -_ **

 

_Something sea-green twisted out of the corner of his eye. Startled, the beastly skeleton’s gaze was taken by the monster who was still grasping his foreleg with her teeth._

_Her eyes blazed with rage. Mere inches from the doctor, she swerved against the force and landed a kick squarely in the man’s face. He was sent flying back._

_Sans was jolted out of his haze._

_Realising he was slipping, he grasped at the ground as Gaster rolled back towards the control panel - colliding hard into the bottom of the console. Shakily, he gripped at the ground, his teeth fixed into a snarl._

**_“Ingrate.”_ **

_Sans backed up with all of his strength, shakily. The doctor slowly pulled himself to his hands and knees, bringing one foot below him._

**_“Get me out of this place.”_ ** _He repeated._ **_“Do as I say.”_ **

_Sans shut his eyesockets, lowering his head to the ground as the haze played up in his mind, once more. He used his free foreleg to brush at his forehead, before beginning to claw at it, instead…clawing…_ **_clawing…_ **  
****

_He didn’t want to listen._

_But he needed to._

 

_Need to listen don’t want to lis_ **_ten need to help need to go…_ **

 

_Want the fear to go._

 

_Want everything to go._

_Want to leave want to leave - can’t think -_ **_don’t_ ** _think -_

 

**_“DO AS I SAY!”_ ** _Gaster roared._

 

_Sans’ eye sockets shot open, as the doctor rose to his feet, a hand outstretched._

_He saw the doctor’s face fall, as the forces pulled him back._

_No longer having the shelter of the control panel to depend on, Gaster flipped backwards through the air, his hands lashing out at the console._

_He succeeded in grasping desperately onto the edge of the control panel as the rest of his body was pulled helplessly through the open window into the CORE chamber, the forces suspending it in the air._

_“Wingding!” Val called, from their shelter._

_Gaster snarled, barely heard over the din. He pulled himself forward, one hand on the console edge and the next reaching for a lever -_

_\- before the steel panelling on the edge suddenly gave way._

 

_Sans watched as Dr W.D. Gaster went flying backwards towards the dark and cold colours of the CORE._

 

_It was wordless, at first. Just a startled look on his face, the lights in his eye sockets shrinking into pinpricks._

_Then, his face twisted into fury. His eyes grew wide. He opened his mouth -_

_and then_ **_vanished_ ** _into the bright surface of the CORE itself._

_The buzzing noise in Sans’ mind silenced. A look of terror appeared on the Blaster’s features as the CORE churned mercilessly and violently._

_…Gaster was gone._

_A heavy silence filled the air, in spite of the CORE’s instability. Everyone in the room had their eyes trained on the chamber itself._

_The Royal Scientist was_ **_gone._ **

_A splutter of energy rippled through the surface of the CORE itself. The sphere slowly began to expand, quickly at first - then slowly, until it returned to its original size. The colours began to swirl more slowly upon it, and the force that pulled everything inwards was slowly starting to weaken._

_Sans’ claws loosened upon the floor, reflexively, as he realised he would be pulled no further. His gaze darted to Owel, still holding onto his foreleg._

_The forces weakened steadily. Slowly, her feet found the floor. A few moments passed, before her jaws slowly released him._

_The Blaster sank to the floor, stunned._

_“Thank you, kid.” She said, quietly. Sans stared up at her, crooning in exhaustion._

_Val slithered out from behind the bench. They gave Sans a once-over, visibly deflating at the sight of him, before turning away to the control panel. Reno shakily stumbled out from the shelter of the next bench, a quiet Sprig following and approaching Sans._

_“…how’s he doing?”_

_The Blaster looked up at him, blearily, trilling lowly. The blue monster’s features shifted into a somber smile._

_“Lousy, huh?”_

_“He doesn’t look injured.” Owel said, walking around Sans and examining his form closely. “Think he’s just… exhausted.” Her eyes narrowed. “And we need to work out how to get him back to normal.”_

_Sprig peered at his skull. “… mostly got that scratch on his forehead to worry about.”_

_“And a bite.” Owel added, sighing. She looked tired. Solemn._

_She glanced over at Val at the controls._

_“…how’s it looking?”_

_There was a brief silence, as the serpentine monster turned to face her._

_“… It is stabilising.” Breathed Val. Their calm voice was tinged with sorrow. “I will contain any anomalies that may arise - with what remaining equipment we have.”_

_They turned to the exhausted Reno. “We are still sharing space with the CORE. Will you be my hands again, my dear?”_

_The red monster nodded, glancing back at Sans. “…Okay.”_

_The Blaster’s eyes slid closed, as Sprig and Owel came over to kneel next to him._

_… Gaster was really_ **_gone._ **

_It was a thought that left him… messy, really. Mixed. The monster that had fallen into the CORE barely resembled his old mentor, anymore._  
****

_Sans found himself curling a little on the spot. It almost happened involuntarily._

_... what was he gonna do, now?_

_He was still stuck like this. Most of this had been his own fault._

_If he had just stayed put…_

_Sans had tried to find as much information as he could. He’d tried so hard to help, and…_

_… well. In the face of all this, he really didn’t want to try being helpful again, anytime soon. If Sans had known enough, if he’d known enough to fix the problem, then…_

_…he’d really hoped that - just maybe, everything would have returned to normal._

 

 

**t̩͓̤͇ͩͥͣ̂̄  a̬͔̥̬ͣ̑͌̂̿̒̋k̩͇̔́̀̐  e̹̝͒̆ͧͯ̂ ̦͋͆̉̽̒̓ŷ̦̇ͣ͑o̳̦̾ ̙ͣ̂ͦͦ̋u   a̠ͭ͆̋ͫͤ̈́̍   ll͔̻̒ͥ̚**

 

 

_A quiet, buzzing noise in his head._

_Sans’ eye sockets shot open. He abruptly rose to his feet, startling Owel._

_“Kid?”_

_The voice sounded very distant. Echoing strangely around him in waves._

_His eyes fell on the CORE, and he stumbled back._

_It was churning, pulsing with a violet glow. Arcs of violet energy shot out from its surface, plunging back into it._

_A distant, static roar surrounded them all, and Sans continued to step back, eyes fixed on the CORE._

_Tendrils of violet were forming from the energy arcs. They pushed outwards from the sphere, writhing and flailing before being yanked back in._

_The roaring grew louder._

_“Sans? What’s wrong?”_

_The beastly skeleton began to chatter his teeth, his eye sockets flickering blue._

 

 

**t ạ k   ì̟̤ͪ͂ͫ̚n̰͔ ğ̇̃͗̄̏    y̥̭͌̇̿ͨo͐  ů̈̐ͤ̅̓   a̬̻̙̐ͅ  l̠̪̎̀̅    l̮̦̹̏̀̾̆͊ͭ**

 

 

_The tendrils of energy surged out again, this time with more force. The ends split into digits - and Sans could see the distinct shape of a skeletal hand forming on its end - phasing in and out of visibility._

_Sans pulled away from Sprig and Owel, shrieking._

_Not safe. Not safe._

 

_Had to run._

 

_Had to run - had to run had to run had to…_

 

 

* * *

 

 

Have to run…

 

Have to get up… run…

… he was hurt. His head hurt. He…

… the world was was spinning… the ground was swirling below him…

The sounds around him were muffled, as if he were underwater. He could barely process anything.

He wanted to hide.

No… he couldn’t hide… he had to come _back_ …

…which one was it? What did he need to do?

Heat. Pain… yelling and screaming.

Defend.

He was hurt. He had to defend himself…

_“papyrus?”_

The voice brought a bit of clarity to his addled mind.

Amongst the dim colours that swam across his unfocused gaze, he saw something white, and blue…

He trilled, blinking blearily. His first instinct was to try rattling his bones again - yet much of his energy had left him. He wasn’t sure what he was looking at.

“… bro, hey. _hey_ … can you hear me?”

The voice lowered his defences almost immediately.

No threat… it wasn’t a threat. Safe. It wasn’t like the voice that had tried to reach into his mind… this one…

… this one…

A low rumble sounded in his throat.

… sounded sad. Scared. Wrong.

The voice was familiar. But its tone… sounded strange, like that. Something was wrong.

Carefully, his mind reached out. Something was bubbling up in his consciousness. Spilling out from his defences - pushing past the fog.

Papyrus slipped back into awareness, though barely. His instincts still blared loudly in his exhausted mind, told him to try to get up, try to run…

… but he had to find his friends…

 

… help.

 

He needed to… help.

Why couldn’t he move…? Why did he feel so heavy?

Papyrus was suddenly aware of a familiar sensation pressing down on his SOUL. It was constricting him a little… and keeping him down on the ground.

He blinked.

Oh…

It was Sans’ BLUE attack.

The voice that had spoken earlier… it belonged to his brother.

… Sans was… keeping him here.

With a stubborn growl, he pushed down against the ground.

…No. No, he… he still had to _help_ …

His brother still… needed his help! Papyrus could still feel Gaster’s influence - from where, he couldn’t really tell…

… but he was close. He was too close.

Papyrus couldn’t let him take away Sans, again!

“pap… bro, _wait!”_

The force of Sans’ BLUE attack kept him from lifting his body off the ground. He gave a low rumble in protest as he strained harder against the magic.

He still needed to get Sans to safety!

“papyrus, _stop_!” His brother’s face swam into view, and Papyrus saw panic - he saw blue light flickering in his sockets. He saw a new gouge on the side of Sans’ face, from his own claws.

Papyrus pushed harder against the ground, his aching skull still lying limply against the steel floor.

Sans was… in danger. Sans needed to be taken away from here…

He groaned, dizziness suddenly threatening to make him slip back into unconsciousness, once more.

… why was it so hard to lift his head?

Shakily, with effort, his head began to rise from the ground. It throbbed horribly, a dull ache rippling outwards from the side of his skull - from his eye socket, too. The world seemed to tilt, and his shaking forelegs splayed out to keep himself steady.

There was the sound of something clinking.

Papyrus saw some strange shards tumble onto the steel floor before him.

They were white. Some were… crumbling into dust…

He blinked slowly, with his remaining eye.

 

… _Oh_.

 

“papyrus, don’t _move_.” 

The beastly skeleton’s blurring gaze rose to his brother. Sans’ eye sockets had gone dim, a grim smile appearing.

“c’mon, buddy. just… just stay still. that’s the point of a blue attack, yeah?” He glanced over his shoulder, at the fray behind him. “just… _stop.”_

Papyrus slowly shook his head, a stubborn growl rising from his throat as he felt his forelegs slide out from beneath him, the force of the BLUE attack increasing.

No… No, he needed to take Sans to safety… he needed to keep going… Something like this couldn’t stop him!

He pushed back down on the ground, trying to stand up, despite the BLUE attack. His SOUL crackled against the strain, and he saw Sans spin around to face him, eye sockets still dim.

“that’s _enough!”_ He yelled, his smile dropping into a snarl. “you’ve done _enough!”_

Papyrus snarled back, eyes shut tightly. No! _No!_ He still needed to help! It didn’t matter if his brother got mad at him! He needed to help -

He was startled to feel the BLUE attack release from around his SOUL.

And in turn, even more startled to feel something suddenly wrap itself around his muzzle.

Blinking, Papyrus lowered his skull back down to the ground, feeling the grip tighten.

 _“… you’ve done_ **_enough_ ** _…”_

The beastly skeleton froze.

Sans’ voice was quiet.

It sounded hollow. Distant.

_“you gotta stay down, bro… you’ve done enough, okay?”_

Sans was hugging him tightly around the muzzle. His legs had given out beneath him - his head bowed against Papyrus’ own. The beastly skeleton couldn’t see his face.

Papyrus could feel him shaking. His voice was beginning to grow thick with pain.

 _“you’ve always done more than enough…”_ He repeated. _“you’re_ ** _not_** _useless, don’t listen to him, just… just stay_ ** _here_** _.”_

A quiet, mournful keen sounded through Papyrus’ skull as he saw the blue flickering more out of the corner of his eye.

_< SANS…?>_

_“… i’ve gotcha, papyrus.”_ He mumbled, shakily. _“i-i’ll figure something out… i won’t…”_

The flickering blue light grew brighter and more insistent.

_“i won’t… let him…”_

Sans fell silent, his breath caught in his throat. For a moment, Papyrus felt his brother’s claws prick into his skull. He began to draw in shaky gasps, and the beastly skeleton could feel the panic radiating off of his brother.

Something was very wrong.

His breathing wasn’t controlled. Papyrus felt his brother’s grip loosen around his muzzle, the slightest bit.

 

**_“… T h i si sa l lm yf a u l t.”_** He whispered.

 

A thunderous crackle of energy startled the beastly skeleton, and Papyrus felt his brother release him. He watched him scramble back as energy danced around his shaking body in blue arcs.

He watched in horror as Sans’ claws began to double in length.

 

 

* * *

  

 

_“SANS! Sans, calm down!”_

 

_The Blaster scurried backwards out of the room. He pressed himself back against the corridor wall, eyes plastered on the CORE chamber. Eyes plastered on the skeletal hands that were reaching further… further out…_

_His bones were starting to rattle._

_“Wh-What is it?” Reno asked, turning from the controls. “Is he okay?”_

_Owel approached Sans, cautious. “Something’s got him spooked.”_

_A strangled growl escaped him._

_Something was wrong. Something felt wrong. He could hear - it was coming from the CORE. Coming from everywhere…_

_… couldn’t they hear it, too?_

 

 

 **T A K̦͖̳̈͌ ̼̰̰̩͑̓̊ͥͭͤ́i͉͍̩͈̰͛̆ͨ̄̌ ̲̻͉ͅͅN ̪͈͛̇͑gͮ̈͊̎̄̓̽ ͓̯̠̬͊ͫ͐̂ ̏Y    o̳̞͈̤̙̮̓ ̤͉̠̭̖̐̇͐u̹̦͔̞̒͊̅ͥ ̤͒ͨ̿ͪ̈A̟̣̜̰͍̘̹̐ͯ̃̍    Lͮ̀͑͑ͥ ̯̼̞͉ͨͩ̽ͮ̉̀ͤ L̻̼ͧ̈́ͥͭ̂ͤͮͅ**  
̜̱̈͆̉͆  
̮̰̠͓̝̩̩̌̒͊

 

 

 

_“…My dear.”_

_Val’s gaze was fixed on the CORE chamber. They too, had seen the strange state of the energy sphere, itself. Sans watched as the purple tendrils of energy pushed further out the CORE’s orbit, before being sucked back in._

_“W-what… was that?”_

_Reno had turned back to the controls. His ears were standing on end._

_The serpentine monster lowered their head, eyes narrowing in focus._

_“Start the deactivation process.” They said, sharply. “The Underground will be without power for now, but anomalies seem to still be a risk.”_

_“O-okay.” Reno’s focus returned to the control panel, and his fingers rapidly typed in input after input on the console._

_“Hey, hey, deep breaths.” Sprig looked uncertain as he approached Sans. “We’re gonna get you out of here as soon as everything’s unsealed.”_

_Owel peered at him, eyes narrowing in thought._

_“Sans? Kid… what’s wrong?”_

_Gazing past the two scientists, Sans watched as the CORE suddenly seemed to expand, completely overwhelmed with a violet hue. Four energy tendrils burst out from its surface, forming defined skeletal hands on the ends, crackling wildly._

_They were Gaster’s extra hands._

_Sans let out a beastly screech as they all surged directly to the control room._

_A roar echoed all around them._

 

 

 _ **I̬ͣ̈ͣ’͉̹͕̐̌͆M̗͓̘̞̪͈ͦ͒ͧ͐ͮ̏ͭ  T͔͆̄̾ͯ̔ͮAͣ͂ͨ̽ͪͮ̑Ḱ̼̪̪͈̱ͥ̇Ï̭͋̋ͪ͆̉N̗̾̅̆̔G̲͖̗̲ͬ ̒ͫY̻͉͍̦̫̗̖̓̈̓̏ͤ̆ͬO̦̠̿̆͆ͮ̉ͪ̉U ̬͉̮̦̖A̐̆̚L̯̯̝̰̰̠̔͆͌ͫ̇L W̲̃͒ͦ̎ITH ME̝ͮͤ!̰̫̉!̦!͎̺̤̥͍͛ͦ̄̂**_  
  
̤̫̖ͧ̉̌̾͆

 

_Reno looked up from the control panel, and froze at the sight of the hands charging towards them, palms open and fingers clawed._

_“Guys - ”_

_They surged into the control room, just as he spoke._

 

_One hand grabbed Reno by the face._

 

_One hand grabbed Sprig by the neck._

 

_One hand grabbed Owel by the head._

 

_One hand surged towards Sans._

 

_The beastly skeleton was frozen on the spot as it came closer, closer - Sprig being yanked backwards off his feet, grasping at the hand on his neck. Owel being pulled back, twisting and flailing through the air. Reno was already disappearing into the churning sphere of the CORE._

_A flash of orange blocked Sans’ vision and he jolted, pushing himself back further against the wall in horror._

_Val had appeared before him, shielding him from the hand. It had closed on the back of their head._

_Sans watched as Sprig and Owel were pulled into the CORE itself - vanishing into the brilliant light._

_Val braced themselves against the pulling force. Strands of energy surged out of the CORE once more, the tendrils seemingly weaker than before - dissipating as they were pulled back in._

_The serpentine monster looked up at him, suddenly appearing very tired._

_“… I am so very sorry, my dear.” They said, softly._

_Sans’ vocalisations were caught in his throat. He stepped towards Val, who smiled back at him._

_“…Please. Stay determined.”_

_A thunderous crackle sounded - and the serpentine monster was suddenly pulled back._

 

_Through the control room window._

 

_Through the air._

 

_Disappearing into the CORE itself._

_A shockwave surged outwards from the energy sphere, knocking Sans back against the wall and into panicked, desperate action. His claws scrabbled against the tiled floor, and he broke into a frenzied run, the CORE continuing the crackle violently - echoing throughout the entire facility._

_Gone…_

_… they were all gone…_

_Gone away…_

**_…go away…_ **

_Sans’ shook his head, firmly. In his panic, his mind was slipping once more. But something overtook him. He wanted to run - wanted to escape…_

_He needed to leave…_

 

_He wanted to leave… doors were shut…_

 

_Trapped… Sealed…_

 

_… where could he go?_

_His focus still addled, he felt the familiar sensation of magical energy surging to his eye. The CORE responded in the presence of magic, tendrils of energy rising out of its surface as his eye socket activated and the unstable rifts appeared around him._

_He found himself charging to the closest one as the tendrils darted into the control room and surged after him._

 

_Home._

 

_He wanted to go_ **_home!_ **

 

_Sans leapt into the rift, and the strands of energy pursuing him dissipated in a loud crackle._

_Darkness surrounded him - the white streaks of the rifts shot past him. Yet - it was different this time. The forces surrounding him were turbulent. Unstable. Bolts of coloured energy crackled through the blackness, and Sans could feel their searing heat from a distance as he surged through the realm._

_The CORE’s instability had affected the rifts, themselves._

_The beastly skeleton focused on a particular rift - only to suddenly be thrown and tossed and hurled about by unseen forces - the arcs of energy centring in on him and burning,_ **_burning_ ** _until his focus left him and his thoughts glazed over and he didn’t have a name, anymore._

_He was thrown helplessly towards a rift of light. The environment shrieked and crackled and there were burns all over him as the space became hostile and horrible -_

_\- until light glared through his shut eye sockets as he fell out of the horrible realm, and landed hard on the freezing ground with a CRUNCH._

_He lay still._

 

_…_

 

 

**_Cold._ **

 

_… It was cold…_

 


	23. A Return (Part I)

_Papyrus looked up from his puzzle, startled._

 

_Barks and howls were sounding from outside. It was very early in the morning, but it didn’t really make a difference to the little skeleton. He hardly slept to begin with._

_But the Sentries sure were making a lot of noise for this time of day.                                                                                      r_

_He stared through the window. He was upstairs, in his and Sans’ room. He’s been working on a_ _small pile of puzzles that Spig had sent him._

_Papyus frowned. He_ **_really_ ** _hoped this didn’t mean there was another human around. Humans were strong, and scary - and because of them, he had to stay inside for days and weeks on end!_

 _It wasn’t like when there was a human around, though. They’d just kept howling and howling - like alarms.There’d also been a huge movement of people to the caverns, and it was noisy and a little scary - except not really._ _Because he didn’t get scared. T_ _he caverns weren’t that dark or creepy at all._

_…Papyrus still hoped they wouldn’t have to go there, again._

_He glanced over at the clock. 5am._

_Sans wasn’t home, yet._

_His brother had told him that he was going to be staying at work late, tonight. He hadn’t said_ **_how_ ** _late, but Papyrus had hoped he’d show up at midnight, at least. That was a cool hour. It was the hour where all the important things happened in stories._

_But the hour came and went, and Papyrus quietly continued working on puzzles. There was nobody to read him a story that night - Mrs Lago had had a busy day providing accommodations for Greatest Dog’s extended family (There were two litters of puppies. Papyrus didn’t like them very much.)_

_r  g_

_Spi had left a note about hints and clues for him this time around. The blue monster mentioned that there **could** be secret words, but ‘it didn’t really matter. Just have fun, kid.’_

_e_

_Papyrus hadn’t seen him in a while. He hadn’t seen Rno, either. Sans had told him they were all really busy with work…_

_His head stung for a moment, and he rubbed at his skull gingerly._

_Boy. This puzzle was giving the empty space in his skull a real workout. He glanced back at the clues that had been written by…_

_Papyrus paused, blinking._

_… what was his name?_

_It was the blue monster. The one Sans worked with a lot…_

 

 

_r g_

_pi._

_Sans’ work friend. S_

 

 

_The room spun._

_Both of his hands grasped at the desk, and the young skeleton blinked rapidly._

_“W-WHA…?”_

_He’d never felt like_ **_this_ ** _before. Why was his head so heavy? Why was everything so blurry?_

_Before it could upset him, however, the dizziness subsided. He sat upright again, confused._

_… what had he been thinking about?_

_Another howl from outside caught his attention, and he blinked._

_Oh, yeah! The Sentries were still going nuts._

_After a moment, he pushed out his chair and stood, walking over to the window and making a face. He could see Grillby Sr. walking out into the cold with a cup of oil, glancing about in a tired kind of confusion, his blue flames lighting up the area._

_Papyrus blinked._

_The dogs sure were barking at a whole lot of nothing. Maybe it was something only they could smell or hear. Like whistles or Snipes or something._

_But maybe…_

_Papyrus’ face lit up._

_Maybe he could help!_

_The Snowdin Sentries were part of the Royal Guard after all - and **they** were meant to be the best soldiers in the whole Underground! Because of that, they were super popular, had lots of friends, and got all the bones they wanted!_

_Papyrus paused at that last thought, then shrugged it off._

_Maybe if he helped, they’d instantly let him into the Guard when he was all grown up! He’d get brownie points! And he’d cash them in and get brownies for all of his new friends!_

_Carried away in his daydream, he spun from the window and hurried to his clothing drawer, pulling on a large orange sweater and red mitts. He unfurled his glorious red scarf from its usual spot on the bed post and wrapped it around his neck. To complete the image, he grabbed the end of the scarf and waved it around, making whooshing noises._

_He was the very model of a royal guard and skeleton!_

_Papyrus charged for the bedroom door, reached for the doorknob - and suddenly stopped in his tracks._

_He glanced over at the clock. Five past five._

_Papyrus’ arm dropped to his side and he slumped, dejected._

_Mrs Lago had told him not to take a step out the bedroom door until it was 8am, at least. She’d been getting a little grumpy with him lately - he didn’t to make her mad._

_Sighing, Papyrus looked back at his desk._

_He supposed he could keep working on the Junior Jumble. But he’d been doing those for hours, already._

_Papyrus glanced about the room. Then, he suddenly perked up, and darted across the carpet._

 

_… Mrs Lago hadn’t said anything about using the window._

 

 

* * *

 

 

It ripped through his bones.

It burned him - surging through his small body. Blue energy crackled through his limbs, new spikes forcing their way through the back of his elbows and the top of his forearms. His fingers were forming larger and stronger claws.

Sans scrambled back from his brother, teeth gritting as he suppressed the changes from progressing any further. His bones felt strained, trying to push themselves into new shapes.

He couldn’t stop it. Not anymore.

A laser blast hit the wall to his left. His gaze was taken by the fray. Undyne was fighting defensively, in spite of her rage. Her gaze was darting rapidly from Alphys, to Frisk, back to Papyrus and back up to Gaster, hovering astride his last fully-functional Blaster.

She was being stretched thin. There were too many weak points. Too many targets to protect.

The frenzied Blaster was making several wayward shots. The machinery nearby sparked and burned, the steel melting from the blasts. Alphys and Frisk hurled themselves out of the path of another beam - the scientist hurriedly creating a spherical electric shield with her magic.

“K-keep running, Frisk!” She yelled, sweat pouring from her forehead. “I don’t know if th-this can take a hit!”

The human was silent, but didn't oblige. They were transfixed on the fight, their features screwed up in focus.

Snaring, Undyne hurled another barrage of energy spears towards the frenzied Blaster - but before they could collide, it vanished with a wave of one of the doctor’s many hands. They embedded themselves along the steel wall.

 ** _NOW NOW. I DON’T HAVE MANY OF THESE TO SPARE._** Gaster said, tilting his head.

“Shouldn’t have wasted them in our _first_ fight.” Undyne growled. She had no humour left in her tone - her remaining eye was blazing in fury. Even her injured eye seemed to be brightening.

 ** _YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE ALLOWED YOURSELF TO BE DISTRACTED._** Gaster rebuked, shrugging. **_NOW YOU YOURSELF HAVE NONE LEFT._**

With a roar, Undyne sent a barrage of spears hurtling towards the doctor. Several arms reached forward to intercept them, but the majority got through his makeshift defenses.  
****

Sans swallowed.

Gaster currently had several spears sticking out of his body, all still crackling with teal energy.

The arms sticking out of his back were active - his expression twitching back and forth from curious, to somber, to completely outraged.

 _…HOW MUCH LONGER CAN YOU LAST?_ He muttered to himself, thoughtfully. Several extra arms yanked out the energy spears, and the holes left behind slowly mended, black particles surging to them.

Sans’ eye sockets began to flicker blue, once more. His teeth gritted.

This wasn’t right.

The doc was _complete_ , wasn’t he…? He had all the pieces of his soul now, right?

What was _happening_ to him?

“I-I don't get it.” Alphys said, her quiet voice barely heard over the din. “He’s been hit so much…”

Gaster’s head twitched, as he looked back at the human. Sans couldn’t see his expression, but judging by the way Frisk paled, he assumed it wasn’t pretty.

 _ **I FEEL THEM. **_He snarled.  ** _I FEEL THEM... THEY MUST BE..._**

Another barrage of spears shot through the air, and several arms writhed forward, plucking the ones directed at his Blaster out of midair. Another few shot through his torso.  
****

“… you should be close to _dust_ , right now.” Undyne said, lowly. Her eye was wide in both shock and revulsion, as Gaster’s entire body began to writhe uncontrollably. “What the _hell_ is happening to you?”

The arms on his back twitched, as Gaster forced his head to look down, and stared hard at the spear sticking through his chest.

His expression changed into that of a smirk, the violet lights in his eyes shrinking.

 **I TOLD YOU. YOU ARE STILL CONNECTED TO THE VOID.** He hummed to himself. **WHY _IS_ THAT?**

 _IT’S MORE BENEFICIAL THIS WAY ISN’T IT?_ He added, tilting his head. _BUT IT WON’T DO TO STAY IN THE LINE OF FIRE._  
****

His eyes narrowed. _SHOULDN’T YOU WORK ON GETTING SOME MORE FIREPOWER?_

Sans felt a chill as the doctor slowly began to turn towards him.

A wall of spears shot up through the floor of the platform, blocking his vision.

Gaster sighed, turning to the captain of the guard - who suddenly swayed, her arms crackling with cyan energy. She caught her balance with a low crouch, gritting her teeth.

“U-Undyne!” Alphys yelled, dropping the electric shield and summoning magical electricity, instead. “H-how long have you been fighting?! You need to save your energy!”

 _“We’re keeping him away from them.”_ Undyne growled, staring up at Gaster as his Blaster prepared a laser charge. “He’s not laying a **finger** on them, you hear me?!”

Her teeth gritted. _“I’m not letting it happen_ ** _AGAIN._** _”_

Sans took in a shaking breath.

At this distance, and over the noise of battle, they hadn’t noticed his current predicament.

Sans grasped at his head, trying to pull himself to his feet, which were already forcing him to stand unbalanced on his toes. His lengthening claws scraped against the steel floor, leaving marks behind.

He had to leave.

He had to leave right _now!_

He’d only taken two shaky steps away from his brother before a second surge of energy suddenly tore through him, and he snarled in pain, crumpling to the floor. His voice was already becoming more guttural, and he tensed hard, suppressing the changes once more.

No time. There was no time -

A croon sounded from behind him. Sans looked up to see a large, bony claw suddenly block his escape path.

The older skeleton rounded on the semi-conscious Papyrus in desperation. His brother’s eyes were flickering with orange, and his head was barely being held above ground, shaking from the effort.

Pushing himself up on all fours, Sans found himself snarling in response, his head low.

 _“L e t  m e_ **_g o._ ** _”_

The truth was that Papyrus wasn’t blocking his progress that much at all - it was simply getting harder to _move._ The energy that his panic gave him was not enough to keep him focused. The electric buzzing in the background was crescendoing into an unbearable roar.

His bones creaked in the wake of the blue energy dissolving off them, and Sans felt spikes growing on the back of his elbows. Suddenly conscious of how he was standing, he hurriedly pushed himself back onto his back legs, trying desperately to stay bipedal.

The older skeleton’s breathing grew shaky again.

 _“papyrus… i’m going to_ ** _hurt_** _you.”_ He said, in the most steady tone he could manage. It wasn’t a threat. It was a statement that they both knew to be true. Even if Sans didn’t attack Papyrus as a Blaster, Gaster would quickly rectify that.

He had to leave. He needed… to buy more time - find a way to get back to the CORE control room.

Sans’ eye socket began to sting as he halfheartedly focused.

Maybe he’d… risk using a rift - it didn’t matter if it was unstable, he just needed a way _out_. He had to go. He had to…

Another surge of energy painfully wracked his system. Tensing, he focused hard - keeping the changes at bay. The middle of his lower jaw ached - he knew it was splitting in two.

Sans collapsed against Papyrus’ skull, his energy leaving him.

 

…It was too late.

 

It had been too late the very moment his transformation was triggered.

It didn’t matter if he ran. It didn’t matter if he tried to fight back.

The mutagen had him. _Gaster_ had him.

Sans slowly looked over at his brother. Papyrus stared up at him, trying desperately to focus. White light flickered within his remaining eye socket, and then…

… it finally went completely orange.

Eye sockets going black, Sans slowly pulled away from him.

He was gone.

Papyrus was…

  


 

* * *

 

 

_Gone._

 

_He was cold. He was shaking. His claws dug deep into the snow._

_They were gone. All of them were gone. He was alone._

_Sans remembered. He remembered everything. The surroundings had been too familiar. The distant howling of the sentries had sounded repeatedly…_

_But what had really tipped him off was the Delta Rune above the sealed door to the ruins._

_The same insignia that he’d once worn. The one that everyone on his team had worn._

_They were all…_

_He backed away from the great door, a haggard growl reverberating through his skull._

_No…_

 

**_No!_ **

 

_With a snarl, he turned off the path and charged into the trees. His body almost moved without his consent - he moved naturally on all fours right now and he hated it, he_ **_hated_ ** _it - he didn’t want to_ **_be_ ** _like this!_

_The trees whipped by him in a blur of white and black - and before long, he had stumbled into a clearing within the labyrinth of trees._

_He didn’t know where he was. And he didn’t care._

_His breathing quickened. He saw the dark trees around him light up with flickering blue - his eye sockets were acting up._

_He felt unsteady on his legs, and he found himself suddenly horrified at how wrong he felt. He’d known something was wrong, he’d known that he didn’t usually look like this, but the terror of knowing_ **_why_ ** _had flooded him completely._

_This wasn’t him. He didn’t want this to be him!_

_He was trapped. Nobody could help him… Nobody could because they were…_

_Gaster had…_

_Gaster had taken them all away._

_Something burned in his chest. Sans’ eyes shut, his legs buckling slightly and lowering his head._

_Owel, Sprig, Val and Reno had all…_

 

_They were all gone._

 

_They’d all…_

_Drawing in a shaking breath, he threw back his head and gave an earsplitting roar._

_It rolled outward, echoing through the forest. The trees shook with the sound as it faded into silence._

_They were all gone._

_Because Sans had made a stupid mistake. Because he hadn’t been strong enough._

_Because of Gaster._

_Sans let out another mournful roar. It didn’t sound a thing like him. His voice was gone. Everything about him was gone._

_The Sentry howls died down in the distance in response._

_He’d never wanted this._

_… Sans didn’t want to think about this._

_As his roar echoed into the silence of the forest, the haze slowly began to descend on his mind once more._

_He allowed it to seep into his consciousness, overtaking his thoughts, his memories._

_Forget._

_He sank to the snowy ground, eyesockets shut._

 

_He wanted to forget…_

 

 

* * *

 

 

There was no sign of recognition in Papyrus’ eyes.

His expression was scrunched in pain, a low groan sounding from the creature. Sans stared hard at him, his eye sockets flickering.

The sickness had gotten to his brother. Right now, he was gone.

Sans’ eye sockets grew dim.

He’d seen his brother in his ‘feral’ state, before. Seeing him just _succumb_ was even worse.

The mutagen had completely overtaken Papyrus, over the past few days. He still remembered his brother panicking - more and more as time went on. He still remembered his brother’s confident and optimistic self slowly disappearing.

Sans had wanted to fix things as soon as possible. He’d wanted Gaster to vanish. He’d wanted the sickness to disappear. To get his brother back to the way he was _supposed_ to be.

… to keep everything in the past, where it belonged.

Another surge of energy travelled through him, and he grasped at his skull again, hearing his sharpened claws grind against the side of his head.

A muted bark sounded, and a sudden nudge dislodged the grip on his skull. Startled, Sans turned to see the Blaster, still barely conscious. His head had risen, shaking from the effort.

The older skeleton saw the orange lights in his eye sockets, and his jaw clenched.

Papyrus still hadn’t come to.

Sans’ hand returned to his head, gripping it tightly to distract himself from the change once more.

…He wasn’t _there_.

A tired croon sounded. Sans felt his hand being nudged away from his head, once more.

The smaller skeleton looked back at the creature, blinking in confusion. The Blaster’s head was trembling with effort to stay awake. It was evident that he wouldn’t last long - the head injury wasn’t letting him focus very well.

Sans’ hand gently traced the shallow gouges and scratches he’d given himself on the side of his skull. They were superficial. He’d had no intention to injure himself. Just… to distract.

But he hadn’t realised that he’d left so many marks.

Another croon. The creature feebly brushed his hand away from his head again with his muzzle. His remaining eye glimmered dully with orange light as his skull finally dropped abruptly to the ground, losing strength.

Sans stared at the Blaster, blinking slowly as he tried desperately to focus on the smaller skeleton.

There was a kind of distress there. The Blaster was staring at Sans’ scratched skull, warbling quietly.

Sans blinked, slowly.

The Blaster was…sad. Distressed.

… but not _afraid_.

 

He wasn’t afraid of him…

 

 

* * *

 

 

_He wasn’t afraid…_

_... definitely not afraid. There was nothing to be scared of..._

_He was brave._

_Papyrus took in a deep breath. He puffed his chest out, and stood up straight._

_Brave people didn't get scared._

_A quiet clicking sound caught his attention, and he slapped at his knees. They were knocking together._

_It… it was cold. It was pretty cold out, and maybe that’s why his bones were rattling. Yeah, that had to be it._

_He clutched his mighty weapon (a twig he’d found earlier) close to his body, as he slowly moved through the huge, dark woods._

_It had been easy to sneak out of Snowdin. Doggo Sr. was on lookout duty. His family had a bit of a genetic condition when it came to eyesight - but they were superb swordspups. He hoped they’d teach him a trick or two when he’d found out what was making them bark so loud._

_His resolve hardening, Papyrus dashed deeper into the woods._

_He hadn’t seen any teenagers out, today. He found himself relaxing in relief at the thought - before shaking his head, his eyes blazing with defiance._

_They were lucky that they decided to stay home, today! Because if they’d been around, they surely would have been unable to withstand the Great Papyrus’ incredible prowess!_

_A deafening roar reverberated through the trees, and the twig in his grasp suddenly snapped as he flinched._

_He looked down at his broken weapon, swallowing._

_W-well… well, this was just a display of strength! He was strong enough to break branches!_

_Papyrus dropped the twig, and looked down at his mitts. He clenched them, making the scariest growl he could._

_Yeah! He didn’t need a weapon! He was strong enough to protect himself on his own!_

_Regaining his resolve once more, he turned to continue his heroic quest through the woods._

_And froze._

_The trees had opened up to a large, snowy clearing in the woods. It looked relatively untouched - probably the kind of place teenagers liked to hang out in._

_For once, Papyrus wished that there **were** teenagers nearby. His bones began to rattle, and he took a step back, trembling violently._

_In the middle of the clearing was a huge and frightening creature._

_It was skeletal. It had huge teeth, and wicked claws and pointed horns that stuck out the back of its skull. Its eye sockets were dark, flickering with blue. It had spikes that travelled down its spine, all the way down a long, whiplike tail. It was even taller than Greatest Dog._

_The little skeleton stumbled back._

_He hadn’t even seen it. He was so close - mere feet away._

_And Papyrus really hoped that the creature hadn’t seen_ **_him._ **

_The huge creature suddenly threw its head back, unleashing a horrible roar._

_With a startled yelp, Papyrus hurled himself behind a small, black stump nearby. He dug his fingers into the ground, trembling violently as he heard the great beast’s clumsy footfalls shake the trees._

_The little skeleton hid behind his shelter as well as he could, his bones rattling uncontrollably. He grasped at them, trying to keep them still._

_Perhaps… this hadn’t been the best idea…_

_A second deafening roar caused echoed through the forests._

_He was startled to hear a loud thump on the snowy ground, right beside him. The trees shook with the impact. Shutting his eyes, and initially believing that the creature was about to stomp this way, the little skeleton curled in on himself._

_“S-SANS!” Papyrus wailed, burying his head into his knees._

_He waited._

_… and waited._

_It was only after a few moments that he reopened his eye sockets._

_It was silent. The monster hadn’t moved._

_He sat there, trembling for a few more moments. He looked around at the seemingly endless expanse of trees, before catching sight of the main path in the distance._

_… at least he knew where he was. M-maybe he could make a break for it…_

_He could… he could at least tell the sentries where the beast was…_

_Papyrus swallowed, glancing over his shoulder. Curiosity slowly got the better of his fear as usual, and he slowly peeked out from behind the stump._

_He blinked._

_The creature was lying down. It had fallen onto the snow, its great big eyes half-lidded. A terrifying blue glow seeped from the darkness of its massive eye sockets. Its spikes and horns and teeth seemed much more wicked from up close._

_Papyrus’ eyes narrowed in focus._

_Up close…_

_… were those scratches on its skull?_

_He slowly stood from his crouching position - still feeling his bones rattle a little from the earlier roar. He grasped his arms again, trying to make them stop._

_… Its bones had scorch marks and burns all over them. Its ribcage - its spine, its legs…_

_Papyrus wondered if it had been in a fight. Maybe with a human. A human was probably strong enough to do this much damage to a huge monster like this._

_He watched as the beast’s eye sockets slowly slid closed, not noticing his presence in the slightest._

_Quietly, Papyrus approached._

_He’d never seen a monster like this before. It was true there were monsters of all sorts, and they came in many different sizes… but this was completely new to him._

_… Maybe it was a new monster._

_Maybe it had come from the Ruins, or one of the mysterious doors people kept finding deep in the woods._

_Papyrus paused, suddenly blinking._

_The closer he got, the more painful the burns looked._

_The creature didn’t just look like it was trying to sleep. It seemed exhausted. Hurt. It didn’t seem that comfortable to just lie in the snow like this, skeleton or not…_

_Papyrus arrived at its snout, fiddling with his scarf with uncertainty._

_… was it okay?_

_It was true that some monsters could be dangerous, sometimes. It was true that some monsters could be mean._

_But was this monster really one of them?_

_Papyrus’ arms dropped to his sides, and he perked up._

_His hesitation fading, he reached out to touch its muzzle._

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Bony fingers halted inches from the Blaster’s skull.

The creature’s remaining eye slid closed, as he passed out from exhaustion. Sans stared hard at the beast, scrutinising his features.

“… bro?” He asked, quietly. “are you - ”

Another painful surge wracked his body. Sans doubled over in pain, bowing his head against the steel floor, feeling an ache in his head as he felt the crack continue to travel up between his eyes.

The blue energy dissipated, but left him disoriented. His bones were being pushed into unfamiliar shapes. Even though he still looked more like Sans and less like a complete Blaster, he still felt incredibly uncomfortable.

His gaze rose to his unconscious brother. The Blaster was stirring quietly, with a muffled groan. He was being stubborn.

…As usual. Sleep didn’t come naturally to him, after all.

Sans felt a grim smirk play up on his features.

Yeah. Papyrus generally wouldn’t sleep unless he’d worked himself to exhaustion.

The older skeleton frowned.

… There was nothing but a beast there, though. Papyrus didn’t remember Sans. He… didn’t even remember his own name.

Sans’ gaze landed on the scorch marks on Papyrus’ jaw and ribcage - remnants of the laser he’d suppressed.

He reached out, gently touching his brother’s damaged skull. Papyrus stirred, groaning. The older skeleton caught sight of nicks and scratches around his forehead and horns - remnants of a multitude of bony hands grasping at his great skull.

 _“… how’d you do that?”_ Sans whispered, numbly.

The spike of panic that had relentlessly plagued him seemed to ebb away. The chaos of his mind receded, the slightest bit.

 

… It was still Papyrus.

 

Lucid or otherwise, this creature was still his brother.

Sans withdrew his clawed hand.

What had made him think otherwise…?

The fact that he looked like Gaster’s weaponry? The fact that Papyrus was _stuck_ with that visage?

…The fact that Sans couldn’t really reconcile the two?

Upon seeing his brother unable to change back, a small part of him had wondered if his brother had given up, then. Simply allowed the mutagen to take over. He couldn’t blame Papyrus - the sickness had been overwhelming for Sans when he’d first been infected.

Sans had wanted to shut down, too.

But seeing it happen to his brother, of all people - he’d begun to wonder if the Papyrus he knew was slowly fading away.

No.

…Sans had wondered if Gaster had _won._

 

* * *

  ** _GASTER’S NOT THE ONE I’M AFRAID OF!_**

 

* * *

Sans looked over at Papyrus, still stirring. A small, orange light continued to flicker from the gaping hole in his skull, and he felt a little dizzy, once more.

Judging by how intent the doctor was on destroying Papyrus, Gaster had certainly become afraid of _him_.

Sans drew in a breath.

 …Why hadn’t he pieced it together?

Sans had… panicked, sure - but he’d only focused on the fact that Papyrus was in danger, that the doctor intended to destroy him.

He hadn’t pieced together what it had _meant._

Slowly, the skeleton stared down at his claws.

 

_… what the hell… had he been doing?_

 

Where had he _gone?_

His eye sockets slid closed.

He hadn’t… been able to focus. He hadn’t been able to think.

Sans had screwed up. In his efforts to fix the problem as quickly as possible, he’d completely and utterly screwed up.

He hadn’t paid proper attention to the finer details of anything. He’d just…

… he’d spent so much time trying to ignore the mutagen that he hadn’t been able to realize that he’d already fallen deep into its clutches, himself. Pretty much everything he’d done to this point… all of it had been driven by fear.

Sans had relayed information about the mutagen. He’d assumed that’d be enough to reassure Papyrus. The bigger picture was large, and threatening. There were details that he could omit.

 

There were things that his brother didn’t need to know.

 

Sans blinked. 

“… heh.”

How many times had he used _that_ phrase?

… and how many things had Papyrus figured out, regardless?

His gaze rose to the unconscious Blaster.

… Papyrus wasn’t _stupid_. Sans understood that all too well. It was kinda hard to protect someone who could be clever at the most unpredictable of times. Or someone who knew there _was_ a bigger picture in the first place.

With that said - Sans wasn’t sure if Papyrus could recognise his own name right now.

He was also fairly certain that Papyrus didn’t precisely know what was going on - nor what the situation was, if Sans’ own experience as a Blaster was anything to go by.

The skeleton’s eyes narrowed.

…probably the only benefit of being a Blaster, right now.

But… still.

Papyrus’ aggression was gone. The fear was gone.

His gaze fell to the red material around Papyrus’ metacarpals - all that remained of the gloves on his battle body.

“… something’s different, huh?” Sans murmured, recalling Frisk’s words.

The mutagen should not have allowed for his brother to defy Gaster’s direct order. He was meant to be just like the Blasters in terms of temperament - especially with the doctor around. Papyrus had already broken so many established ‘rules’ of the sickness.

Somehow, his brother had taken something about the situation and… turned it on its head.

Despite himself, Sans managed a sad smile.

…Yeah.

Papyrus had always been like that.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_“MISTER?”_

_The beast stirred, silently. His first real awareness was the cold._

_It wasn’t searing, or freezing… It just made him uncomfortable._

_… He was tired. He was sad. He didn’t know why._

_He shut his eye sockets tighter._

_He didn’t want to know._

_“EXCUSE ME. MISTER? OR MISS? OR MIXTER?”_

_The beast’s eye sockets slid open, alert._

_Something was here. Something was close by._

_He let out a low growl of warning, his vision still blurred from sleep._

_Threat? Danger?_

_“HELLO! RIGHT HERE!”_

_Blinking, his gaze cleared. Something red and white and orange swam into focus, waving at him with one hand. The other was firmly atop his muzzle._

_The beast stared hard._

_Startled, he scrambled to his feet with a loud snarl. The movement caused a flurry of snow to splash outwards, a thick blanket of powder throwing the stranger off their feet._

_“AAAAAAA!”_

_The beast froze at the sound._

_A paw raised in hesitation, he stared at the small mound of snow before him. Two small, red snow boots were sticking out of it._

_They moved around a little, a muffled groan sounding from inside the snow - before a small skull suddenly popped out of the top of the mound, covered in a layer of powder._

_“WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?” The skull huffed. The two red boots planted onto the snowy ground and the stranger stood, pushing himself out of the mound and brushing the snow off of his orange jumper._

_The Blaster’s paw slowly lowered to the ground, eyes fixed on him._

_The stranger didn’t… look threatening. Whatever it was, it was very small._

_A little monster. A skeleton… just like him._

_…But standing._

~~_(Standing… like he was supposed to be…)_ ~~

_“OH! DID I SCARE YOU?”_

_The little monster nonchalantly moved towards him, his red scarf trailing behind him. The snow crunched under his boots as he gazed up at the creature._

_“IT’S OKAY! A LOT OF PEOPLE CAN’T SEE ME COMING. NYEH-HEH!” He beamed. “I’VE BEEN WORKING ON MY STEALTH!”_

_At his approach, the Blaster held his head low, a quiet growl rumbling in his throat. The little skeleton stopped in his tracks, blinking as something dawned on him._

_“OH.” He wiped some more snow off his jumper. “A-ARE YOU STILL SCARED?”_

_The Blaster watched him intensely, but made no movement. The little skeleton stood up straight._

_“YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE SCARED OF ME!” He said, beaming. “I’M ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS! I’M NOT MEANT TO BE SCARY!”_

_He held out a red mitt, smiling._

_“SEE? IT’S OKAY.”_

_The beast stared at the outstretched hand for a moment. He kept up his guard. He did not know anything about this creature - he did not know if he had the potential to harm the beast._

_… but it was odd._

_He couldn’t bring himself to feel so afraid, at the moment._

_The beast chuffed, softly._

_He was still nervous, of course. But… for a very different reason._

_Hesitantly, the beast took a step towards the other monster._

_All the creature could really think about was how_ **_small_ ** _the skeleton was.( ~~… had he always been that small?)~~ _

_He needed to be careful about how where he stepped…_

_Slightly fascinated, he cautiously reached forward with his muzzle - and hesitated._

_He wasn’t sure about closing the distance - and now he wasn’t sure about much at all. Was this a trick?_

**_Pap._ **

_The Blaster blinked, feeling the small mitt land decisively atop his muzzle. He stared down at the little skeleton, who beamed back up at him._

_“THERE WE GO!” He said, cheerfully._

_Pausing a moment, the beast trilled in reply._

_It was… strange._

_Calming. He was calming down. The little skeleton’s smile was infectious. He’d smile back if he could._

~~ _(… or was he already smiling? Could he smile? He wasn’t sure.)_ ~~

_So when the younger monster’s smile suddenly dropped, the Blaster felt a small measure of distress._

_He rumbled in alarm. No - no no, keep smiling. Keep smiling!_

_Why was he sad? What had happened?_

_…Had he done something wrong?_

_The Blaster suddenly felt both mitts place themselves gently on his snout as the little skeleton stood up on his tiptoes, looking up at his large body._

_He looked a little startled and sad._

_“…YOU’RE BURNED REALLY BADLY…” He observed, quietly._

_The creature blinked._

_He hadn’t really been paying much attention to his own condition. The burns stung, yes, but he wasn’t in a lot of pain. The little skeleton had nothing to worry about. He shouldn’t have to worry…_

_The creature chuffed, trying to reassure the young monster. He blinked, staring back up at him in response._

_The gap-toothed smile returned, and the Blaster relaxed._

_“OH! DON’T WORRY MISTER!” He said, brightly. “IT’S GOING TO BE OKAY!”_

_He looked around. “I DON’T KNOW HOW TO USE MAGIC YET… BUT A LOT OF PEOPLE IN TOWN DO! THEY’LL HEAL YOU RIGHT UP.”_

_The beast looked at him, a little perplexed._

_Town…?_

_“IT’S NOT THAT FAR.” The skeleton looked over his shoulder. “IF WE HURRY, WE CAN GET THERE IN ABOUT HALF AN HOUR, AS THE CROW FLIES!”_

_He paused, his face screwed up in thought._

_“WHATEVER THAT IS.”_

_He turned back to the beast, beaming._

_“AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT SCARY TEENAGERS EITHER, MISTER!” He puffed his chest out. “I’LL PROTECT YOU, ALRIGHT?”_

 

* * *

 

**_“We’ll keep you safe.”_ **

 

* * *

 

_The Blaster froze._

_He looked down at the little skeleton once more, who continued to happily pat his muzzle._

_“YOU’RE A BIT BIG FOR THE INN, BUT I’M SURE ONCE THE GUARD KNOWS YOU’RE NOT DANGEROUS, THEY’D BE HAPPY TO LET YOU STAY!” He said, brightly._

_Town. Inn. Guard…_

_The creature stared at him. Something tugged in his SOUL, his mind becoming steadily clearer in wake of the words._

_…and he tried to veer away from it._

_His mind was trying to dredge something up. Something painful._

_It was something he’d rather forget._

_He stepped back from the little skeleton, bringing his muzzle out of reach. The young monster looked up at him, startled as he began to turn away._

_“H-HEY! WAIT… WAIT!”_

_What calmness he’d had around the little skeleton had suddenly become distress. His voice was making it worse._

_The Blaster sped up his pace - trying to block it out._

 

_No more. No more of this. He didn’t want to know._

 

_The beast heard the crunching of small boots upon snow. He was startled to see the little skeleton catch up in moments. His pace slowed abruptly as the young monster darted in front of him, waving his hands to get his attention._

_“WHERE’RE YOU GOING? SNOWDIN’S THE OTHER WAY!” He glanced over his shoulder. “THERE’S NOTHING OVER THERE EXCEPT THE RUINS.”_

_The Blaster stopped, the pain and fear beginning to return in droves._

_No. He didn’t want to remember._

_This little monster was_ **_making him remember._ **

_Hunching over, he snarled at the skeleton. The smaller monster stepped back, startled at the change of tone._

_“M-MISTER?” He asked, wide-eyed. “ARE YOU OKAY?”_

_The Blaster froze at the tone._

_The skeleton sounded frightened._

_“Y-YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE SCARED…” He said, his voice trembling a little. “I-I TOLD YOU. I’M N-NOT GONNA HURT YOU.”_

_The beast crooned, silently. He took a step back, suddenly mortified._

_No… he hadn’t meant to frighten him. He didn’t mean to snarl at him, he was just…_

_The creature shook his head, blinking._

_…He just felt all messed up._

_He didn’t want the memories to return. He didn't want the pain they carried._

_But he was in pain either way, and he didn't understand why._

_... for some reason, he **knew.** _

_He knew the little guy wasn’t capable of hurting him. It wasn’t like him. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body._

_It wasn’t his little brother’s fault that things were like this, he’d just…_

_He suddenly felt lightheaded. His claws suddenly gripped into the snowy ground, his four legs buckling slightly as his coordination left him._

_“MISTER!”_

 

_Little_ **_brother._ **

 

_The Blaster’s skull shakily rose to stare at the skeleton, who’d abandoned his fear for concern. He’d placed both mitts on his muzzle, as if to try steadying him._

_“A-ARE YOU SICK? YOUR EYES JUST CHANGED COLOUR!” He peered closer, his eye sockets narrowing. “IT MIGHT BE A BRAND NEW DISEASE! YOU REALLY NEED HELP!”_

_Sans stared numbly at the little skeleton._

_His little brother._

_This was_ **_Papyrus._ **

_Where… how…?_

_Sans shook himself out, causing the little skeleton to release his muzzle, startled._

_In the wake of everything that had happened - he’d forgotten. He’d completely forgotten!_

_He’d been so afraid… the CORE, the transformation - his friends…_

_His friends were all gone. Owel, Sprig, Reno and Val were gone and…_

_… and Papyrus was still_ **_here_ ** _._

**_< b-bro…?  >_ **

_The little skeleton tilted his head, confused._

_“ARE YOU OKAY, MISTER…?” He asked._

_Sans blinked, startled at term. ‘Mister?’_

_…Since when did his brother call him that?_

**_< papyrus…  >_ **

_He stepped forward, trilling insistently. Sense had left him - he did not realise that his speech was very different from what it once was._

**_< bro… hey, buddy, it’s me!  >_ **

_There was a pause. Papyrus looked up at him quizzically and Sans froze at the expression._

_He didn’t…_

_“I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU SAID, MISTER.” He said, frowning. Then, he perked up, reaching over to the side of his jaw. He tugged on it gently, and Sans stepped forward with the motion, stunned._

_“YOU REALLY NEED HELP, THOUGH! WE GOTTA GET YOU TO TOWN, REMEMBER? COME ON!”_

_Slowly, Sans let himself be gently tugged along in a stunned silence. His eye sockets grew dim._

_… Right._

_What was he thinking? Papyrus couldn’t recognise him at all, like this._

_His brother’s quick strides were fairly even to his slow and lumbering pace. He felt a strange mixture of sadness and calm as he wandered through the woods with the little skeleton, the cold snow crunching underfoot._

_The fear and tension slowly began to ebb away. He took some comfort in knowing that his brother was here. Papyrus was here, and_ **_safe_ ** _._

_His eye sockets drifted about their surroundings, recounting the events of the past few hours. He’d wandered here… he’d tried to sleep…_

_They were deep in the woods. Close to the ruins._

_Sans snorted quietly, his eyes narrowing as he glanced back at the little skeleton._

_…What the heck was Papyrus doing this far from home on his own?_

_Did he sneak out again? Mrs Lago was probably ready to start barricading the house at this point._

_His sternness faded as he watched his little brother still gently tugging him along._

 

_…He looked so small._

 

_Nobody was meant to be this deep in the woods, especially not someone as young as Papyrus. Rowdy teens, perhaps, but…_

_He thought back to about an hour earlier. The Snowdin Sentries had been out and about, too. Especially upon seeing Sans in the woods. They’d sounded an alert and everything, and his stubborn little brother had decided to investigate the danger, instead…_

_The beast raised an eyebrow._

_His little brother had approached a strange, threatening beast and asked if he was okay._

_Papyrus should have known better. Then again, it wasn’t like his brother to be all that conventional._

_And he’d sorta been right on the money. Sans wasn’t a mindless, dangerous beast._

_His eye sockets dimmed._

_Not…_ **_now_ ** _, at least._

_He flinched, his thoughts reluctantly returning to his friends. To that horrible chase down the halls in the CORE facility._

_Owel, Reno, Val and Sprig had barely managed to avoid his attacks to begin with. The only reason they’d managed to do so was because of their magical abilities._

_Papyrus was still too young to have his magical abilities properly manifest._

_His gaze shot over to his brother._

 

_What if Sans had…_

 

_The beast jerked out of Papyrus’ grasp, stepping back._

_The little skeleton spun around, momentarily confused. Then startled, as Sans slowly backed away from him._

_“WHAT’S WRONG?”_

_The beastly skeleton growled back, quietly._

_What if he was still a danger? Gaster was… he was gone, but Sans was still like_ **_this_ ** _._

_…What if he lost control, again?_

_“MISTER?”_

_Sans glanced back up at his brother. The little skeleton was fiddling with his sweater._

_“YOU KEEP PULLING AWAY…” He said, quietly._

_Papyrus stared up at him, hesitantly._

_“DID… DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG?”_

_The beast’s eye sockets grew wide._

_Trilling incredulously, he stepped forward again._

**_< no, no - bro… papyrus, you’re fine… you…  >_ **

_Halting in realising that he couldn’t be understood, Sans shook his head._

_“OH.” Papyrus perked up, still looking a little uncertain. “I WAS TRYING TO TAKE YOU BACK TO SNOWDIN, BUT…”_

_His arms dropped to his sides. “DO YOU HAVE SOMEPLACE ELSE TO BE?”_

_Sans hesitated._

_…That sure was a question._

_The Snowdin Guard was clearly unnerved at his presence. If there was one thing Sans didn’t need right now, it was hostility. He wasn’t really thinking straight in the form._

_If he stayed in the woods, maybe this would just… blow over. He could be left in peace. He could just… forget again, couldn’t he? As long as he remained hidden, there’d be no danger, no reason to stress…_

_Or maybe he’d just… bury himself in the snow, somewhere…_

_…_

_Sans’ eyes slid closed, and he lowered his head._

 

**_< … what am i _ doing _…? >_**

 

 _He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t forget. He couldn’t forget about everything and hide away in the woods like this._  
****

_Sans’ claws gripped the ground, flinching in the presence of fresh and painful memories resurfacing in his mind._

_So much had happened. So much, and it_ **_hurt_ ** _, and he didn’t want to_ **_think_ ** _about it anymore, and he just wanted to curl up on the spot and shut himself down, again._

_But…_

_His eyes reopened, looking at the little skeleton hovering nearby. His concern had faded, in favour of confusion._

_…Papyrus still needed him, didn’t he?_

_Maybe Mrs Lago would be able to look after him. Maybe she would be able to keep him out of some trouble, but…_

_… Sans couldn’t just disappear. He couldn’t do that to his brother. It wasn’t fair…_

_None of this was fair._

_He’d be all alone. He wouldn’t know what had happened to Sans._

_…Pap was still just a kid._

_Sans stumbled forward, his four limbs starting to feel strange to him, once more._

_He couldn’t leave him…_

_“MISTER?”_

_Papyrus’ concerned face began to blur before Sans, as his head lowered._

_He wanted to come back._

_A crackle of blue energy sparked around him. Dizzy, he collapsed back into the snow, shutting his eyes._

 

_He just wanted to come_ **_back…_ **

 


	24. A Return (Part II)

Sans’ eye sockets slid open.

He drew in a shaky breath, his gaze tracing the dusty floor before him. The sounds seemed muffled around him, his focus tunnelling onto the shards of bone that were still present upon the steel.

One more crumbled into dust.

His clawed hand rose to his skull, in an attempt to distract himself from the panic that rose in him once more. Gritting his teeth, he forced his hand onto his sleeve, instead, allowing him to rip into the material.

… he really needed to get his act together.

Sans was panicking, and he was quickly realising that couldn’t help that, but -

He took in a shaking sigh, as his sleeve grew incredibly tattered by his lengthening claws.

A growl bubbled up in his throat. His knee-jerk reaction was to suppress it - but whether it just the shock, or something else... he allowed himself to do so.

It was almost a little calming.

His eye sockets shut tight. How far was he slipping?

... Regardless, he was starting to focus. He was trying to clear his mind.

The sound of a laser charge caught his attention, and he briefly glanced over to the fray, a ways away.

His vision tunnelled on Frisk as they dodged effortlessly out of the path of another laser blast. In any other situation, he’d probably be alarmed - but right now, he could do nothing but stare dully.

He was in no state to help, but…

… he wanted to fix things.

A toothy smile crept across his features.

Huh. What a dangerous thought that was.

...It wasn't just the idea of his efforts being in vain, like usual. It was also the idea of possibly making things worse - if the CORE incident was anything to go by.

The skeleton took in a shaking breath.

Though, it wasn’t like he had the worst track record. One of his very recent attempts to change things for the better had... actually come up fruitful.

He hadn't really followed that one up with any success, though.

Sans wanted to protect his brother. He wanted to protect the kid.

He wanted to make sure Undyne didn’t have to carry his weight, again.

He chuckled, bitterly. Wasn't like he was completely against that, actually. In fact, in any other circumstance, he was happy for other folks to do the work.

It was tiring, working against forces that he couldn't control.

... Man.

It wasn’t very often that he’d have to force himself into an active role, nowadays. He'd enjoyed being lazy. But, well... he seemed to get even lazier in the face of futility, if the past few years had taught him anything. 

Sans heard himself growl again. The haze slowly threatened to descend on his mind, and for a moment, he actually considered letting it. At the very least, he'd block everything out. He wouldn't have to deal with any of this, anymore. He wouldn't need to think.

He could shut down. He could maybe just… accept things the way they were, like he usually had.

Sans' eye sockets narrowed.

But in the end… this was one of those times that he couldn’t really afford not to care, anymore.

His vision blurred. Dim, muted colours swam before him and his head drooped forward, a louder snarl rumbling from the pit of his sternum.

 

He did not want to be a tool. He did not want to be a weapon.

 

… But he’d long accepted that as long as the illness was active, and as long as Gaster was around, he had no choice.

Sans had suppressed it, sure. And it was _doubly_ fortunate that Gaster had only been inching into existence, little by little. His influence was formerly too weak to control him instantaneously. The doc had needed a lot of energy and focus to grab ahold of Sans in the first place - way back during his first abduction in Snowdin.

But now, it was different.

Sans could _feel_ his influence. In the air around him, in his bones - the doctor’s chaotic magical energy was everywhere, charging the air with a sickly kind of miasma. No matter where he turned or where he went, he could hear his call. He could feel his form trying to obey the doctor’s will.

It was all one more layer of hopelessness.

Sans hadn’t wanted anything to do with the sickness. Heck, years and years after he’d been infected, he’d plain forgotten he’d _had_ it, sometimes. There were other things to worry about. Other things had popped up. Not exactly pleasant things, but... different. New.

The CORE incident had been a horrible experience, and it had been _finished_. It was _over_.

He’d wanted to _forget…_

...like everyone _else_ had.

 

The blue energy violently crackled in his bones again, and he braced against the changes once more. He grasped at his sides, feeling his teeth lengthen further, his jaws creaking to try and contain them.

Sans drew in a steadying breath as the energy subsided.

Whether he liked it or not, this was the situation he was stuck in. And unlike his usual troubles, his safety wasn't the only thing at stake. This wasn't something he could wait out. His brother had been pulled into this, now - and he would be pulled in even deeper if Sans gave up, here.

 

… so what could he _do?_

 

He took in a shaky breath, watching as his sleeve fell away, ripped to shreds.

There was no way out, now. Gaster had taken everything from him. His influence was everywhere. And he couldn’t hold off the changes for much longer.

Shutting his eye sockets, Sans focused again on his own image, trying in vain to reverse the changes. He held onto his old mantra, one that he'd used sleepless night after sleepless night for a year after the incident. Waking up in a cold sweat, grasping his hands and staring hard at them - trying to reassure himself that claws weren't forming on the tips of his fingers. 

His sharpening teeth gritted hard.

 _His_.

This was all his.

 _This was supposed to be his body._ So he was meant to look like _himself_. Not a Blaster. Not anything else.

He was meant to look like _Sans._

The skeleton let out a shaking sigh.

These were meant to be his hands. His feet, his skull, his arms and legs… his mind…

… his…

Sans’ eye sockets slowly slid open.

The skeleton slowly lifted his clawed hands up before him. 

 

 _His_ sickness.

 

Despite himself, the skeleton found himself cracking a grim smile.

Huh. That wasn't exactly a phrase he wanted to warm to.

Gaster had manufactured it, after all. The doc had been the one to introduce it into his SOUL. A strange, terrible mutagen that had never, ever belonged within Sans in the first place.

Something he didn’t want anything to do with.

When Sans first saw Papyrus with Blaster features, he saw Gaster’s doing. When he saw the spikes and claws coming out of his own body, he saw Gaster’s sickness.

Reminded of his brother, Sans turned to the Blaster beside him. He was still unconscious - but still stirring.

The older skeleton sighed.

He’d made the mistake of believing the doctor had ‘won’ over Papyrus - when that couldn't have been further from the truth.

Gaster had tried to make Papyrus into a weapon and had _failed._ The mutagen no longer fully responded to the doctor. It was still _debilitating_. It was still a _sickness_ , but…

… but it didn’t belong to Gaster, anymore.

 

It was _Papyrus’._

 

Sans looked down at his clawed hands, marred by the mutagen.

… It was hard to see these as his own - just as it was hard to think of this beast as Papyrus.

It wasn’t really _them,_ after all. Just some strange, twisted deformation of the sort. Something that didn't belong there, that didn't _fit._

If Sans had claimed this sickness as his _own_ \- a part of him would believe that Gaster had _won._

That he’d just ‘succumbed’ to the doctor’s will. That he'd given into it.

Sans’ body shook with quiet laughter, a little delirious at the realization.

He’d given his brother too little credit. Papyrus hadn’t succumbed. He'd taken it in and continued in spite of it. He’d kept _going._

It was still _him_.

A lightheadedness began to overtake Sans, and he drooped, slightly. The skeleton wasn’t sure if he was just exhausted from everything, or if the mutagen was fully beginning to take over. He hadn’t slept in days. He’d been fighting off the transformation. His magical energy was reaching his limits.

But as he studied his claws once more, Sans was fixed on a particular thought.

_It was still him._

Slowly, he traced what remained of his fingers. He was starting to realise exactly how sharp his claws had become.

… _His_ claws.

They  _belonged_ to him. This belonged to him. Not Gaster.

 

...This sickness was his.

 

Slowly, Sans' eye sockets slid closed.

 

 _All of it was_ **_his._ **

 

A loud, thunderous crack sounded inches from his head.

Sans’ eye sockets shot open in surprise as a surge of energy overtook him. He thought to brace against it at first - but his focus was suddenly taken by the back of his hands.

Patterns were appearing. Violet, veinlike patterns.

They were snaking down his arm, past the end of his ruined sleeve. He pulled it down even further, watching them travel outwards among the surface of his bones.

_“wha…?”_

A violet light suddenly beamed from his SOUL, and he hissed in pain, doubling over. He could see the shadows of his ribcage patterning his white shirt.

He grasped at the material over his chest, wide-eyed. A terrible, constricting feeling spread out from his sternum, and his body suddenly felt as heavy as stone.

 

For a moment, he was back in the lab.

 

He was back in Gaster’s office, struck by a horrible feeling of paralysis and fear. He was trapped, and unable to move, unable to speak.

He took in a shaking breath, his gaze dropping down to his infected SOUL.

It burned in pain. Violet magic spluttered around it, and his teeth gritted.

And then, his gaze suddenly darted to his hand, still clutching the material at his chest.

Blue light was threading through the veinlike patterns, starting from his clawed fingertips.

His eye sockets went wide and dim - more out of surprise than anything.

It was overtaking Gaster’s mutagen. It was threading itself though the markings of the illness, travelling the narrow pathways inward into his body. They branched inwards, closing in on his chest.

Slowly closing in on his own SOUL.

The older skeleton stared for a moment.

… This was his magic. His own, natural magic.

Sans flinched as it burned him, upon travelling through his system. He felt his SOUL thrum in slight protest of its presence. He was reaching out to something he’d long shut out, after all.

He took in a shaking breath, watching the blue light travel through the markings with increasing speed.

This was…

One of Sans’ hands rose, to grasp at his chest once more. Blue energy began to crackle violently around him, as he felt a strain on his bones.

 

 _…His_ illness, huh?

 

With some reluctance, Sans slowly lowered his claws to the ground, closing his eyes. He still felt the fear flare up in him. Still felt the knee-jerk instinct to block everything out. Still knew that all this - every part of this, was something he’d rather put aside.

He drew in a steadying breath.

 _“… work with me, here.”_ Sans muttered to himself.

 

A flash of blue light flooded his vision.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Undyne was thrown down hard against the glass walkway.

Cracks webbed out from the impact, as she rolled out of the path of another laser blast. The glass pane shattered, and she leapt to her feet, summoning more spears to her side.

Frisk crouched near Alphys, their eyes intensely focused on the fight. Papyrus’ oversized scarf had been wrapped securely around their neck and upper shoulders to keep it portable. The ex-Royal Scientist had been mainly on the defensive - both she and Frisk had been avoiding what few laser blasts had been directed at them.

Short on offences, and writing off the scientist as an annoyance at best, the doctor’s focus was mainly on the Royal Captain. Gaster had appeared to collect himself as the fight went on - focusing on riling up Undyne as much as he could.

He’d found a chink in her armour. And he was exploiting it.

Frisk grasped at Papyrus’ scarf.

“Undyne!” They cried. “He’s egging you on!”

“I KNOW!” The captain snarled, rising back to her feet. “AND I DON'T _CARE._  It's not important right now!"

Her stance widened. "...I'm taking him down, anyway. I told you that he wasn't laying a finger on them. If he wants to add fuel to the FIRE..." 

With a roar, Undyne summoned cyan energy to her arms.  **"... _THEN IT'S HIS FUNERAL!!!"_**

Her spears began to materialise out of thin air, as usual…

… and then they fizzled out.

Frisk watched as a spark of cyan energy suddenly burst from Undyne’s missing eye, destroying her eye patch. She staggered back, hissing.

 _“U-UNDYNE!”_ Alphys cried.

In a flash, she charged forward, Frisk following closely after as the captain collapsed to her knees past the end of the glass walkway. They darted around the hole that the most recent blast had left upon the glass, and the human watched as cracks began to travel outwards from it as they ran.

Not long after they’d stepped off the walkway, it began to disintegrate into shards - a cacophony of shattering glass echoing through the corridor.

Gaster floated above the darkness, standing calmly atop the Blaster as he watched the trio.

Undyne knelt in a low crouch on the steel floor, grasping at her eye.

“Damn it…” She whispered shakily. Alphys arrived at her side, skidding to a halt to set up the electric shield spell, once more. It bubbled around the three, humming softly.

“Y-you’re at your limit…” She said, shakily. “You’ve got to stop!”

“Can’t… not now…” Undyne glared up at the doctor, who stared back, amused. “… Not until this _freak_ is out of the picture…”

Gaster crossed his arms. The array of arms upon his back seemed to become quite still.

 ** _…YOU MISSED YOUR CHANCE TO DESTROY ME._** The doctor said, flatly. **_AS I SAID… YOU HAD THE MEANS._**

He tilted his head.  
****

**_IS PAPYRUS REALLY AS USELESS TO YOU AS HE IS TO ME?_ **

Undyne gritted her teeth.  
****

_“… I’m getting_ ** _sick_** _… of you talking about my friend… like he’s your freaking_ ** _weapon_** _, dammit.”_ She snarled.

 **… _AS SOMEONE LEADING THE GUARD, YOU DON’T SEEM TO VALUE HIS PROWESS._ ** The doctor shot back. **_I CERTAINLY MADE MORE USE OF HIM THAN YOU EVER DID._**

Gaster stared at her, his expression stony.

 ** _YOU GLOSSED OVER HIS POTENTIAL AS A FIGHTER._** He said, slowly. **_WHAT GOOD DID THAT DO FOR ANYONE?_**

The ferocity in Undyne's glare flickered.

Before she could respond, there was a sudden explosion of blue light.

Startled, Frisk spun to face the source - precisely where the fallen beast lay.

 ** _… I SUPPOSE IT DOES NOT MATTER, NOW._** Gaster said, a smile appearing upon his features.

Metres before the fallen Papyrus, Sans was on his hands and knees, eye sockets wide and blazing with fierce blue light.

Energy was crackling around his bones - his vertebrae forming spikes wicked and sharp. The changes ripped through his body - far beyond his control.

The electric shield that surrounded them began to dim. One of Alphys’ claws was drawn to her mouth. Undyne’s eye grew wide, and she staggered to her feet, swaying under her exhaustion.

 _“No…”_ She hissed, taking a clumsy step forward.

The human felt sick.

Papyrus was helpless in his current state. There was no way he could defend himself against Sans if he was under the doctor’s control.

Frisk looked up at the doctor, still astride the Blaster. He remained poised, his attention focused on the spectacle - and the human noted that his expression had gone stony.

Gaster seemed frozen in place.

Frisk spun back to Sans - whose usual visage had now vanished, completely.

Blue, veinlike patterns glowed all over his body.

The transformation, from an outside perspective, seemed violent. The spikes progressed down his spine, blazing blue energy forming a tail that curved around his lengthening body. His gaze seemed unfocused, his jaw opening and a muzzle stretching outwards to accommodate the massive sharp teeth that had grown.

Yet… the changes seemed to _flow_. It wasn’t like before, when they had seen Papyrus succumb to his Blaster form for the first time - where it seemed like his bones were being twisted out of place, and he was struggling against every way his body was being contorted.

Frisk drew in a breath.

The veinlike patterns upon Sans’ bones flashed one final time as the changes completed, before they faded away. The Blaster was crouched low, his body close to the ground as if stunned. The blue energy crackled and spluttered around him, as his eye sockets slowly reopened.

The creature’s bones were heavier built than those of his brother. He was still a little smaller than Papyrus - but no less threatening.

His gaze slowly rose to the doctor, eye sockets fixed on the Blaster skull in particular - and suddenly, the weary facade dropped away. He pushed himself up to his full height, blinking slowly.

Sans did not growl. He simply watched, the lights in his eyes blue - leaving trails in the air as he faced Gaster, his head low.

Blue, tattered material was present around his neck, tangled in his cervical vertebrae and shoulder joints. It was all that remained of his hooded jacket.

Slowly, Gaster reached out towards him.

**_THERE, NOW. THAT SUITS YOU BEST, DOES IT NOT?_**

Frisk grasped the end of their shirt, staring hard at the beast that had once been Sans.  
****

They heard a groan from their immediate left. Undyne’s arms crackled with cyan energy as she stared up at Gaster, focusing her energy. She seethed in pain as the magic backfired, sparking from her missing eye. She fell to one knee.

 _“Dammit…”_ She hissed.

Frisk watched the shield around them grow brighter. Alphys was focusing with all her strength, but sweat was starting to bead on her forehead.

Her claws were shaking as she stared at the beast, in terror.

“H-how could he…?”

The human blinked, as the shield crackled - the light reflecting off of the scientist’s glasses.

_“… how could he just…”_

A croaky trill sounded.

Frisk’s attention was finally taken by Papyrus. He had stirred awake in response to the bright light of Sans’ transformation - his orange eye fixed on the beast before him.

He appeared startled at his presence, as if he were seeing him for the first time.

Papyrus seemed oblivious to Gaster's quiet scowl. The doctor then turned back to Sans.

 ** _THAT THING HAS NO USE TO ME, ANYMORE._** He said, firmly. **_IT_** ** _IS A DANGER TO YOU, AS IT IS TO ME._**

He gestured outwards towards him.  
****

**_DESTROY IT. NOW._ **

Sans' head rose up at the command. He slowly turned to face the fallen Papyrus.  
****

There was a tense silence.

 

The human grasped Papyrus’ scarf as Sans took a step towards the fallen beast, who stared back, crooning feebly.  
****

The older beast paused in his stride.

 ** _… I TOLD YOU TO DESTROY THE DEFECT._** Gaster repeated.

Frisk stared hard at the creature, as he took a step back.

Slowly, Sans turned back to the doctor.

He held his head low, his eye sockets ablaze with blue. He did not move an inch.

He simply _watched_ the doctor.

There was a streak of black out of the corner of Frisk’s eye. They glanced up to see the myriad of arms upon Gaster’s back begin to twitch uncontrollably. The Blaster skull slowly floated forward, over and past the small trio huddled under Alphys’ shield.

 _PERHAPS HE NEEDS CONVINCING._ A voice spoke. Again, Frisk noted that the doctor’s mouth did not move with it.

Gaster’s face twisted into a snarl, instead. Two hands slammed against his own skull, fingers scraping against his cranium.

 ** _SHUT UP._** He hissed.

With a wave of one of his hands, the doctor summoned the berserk Blaster from his inventory. Frisk tensed, and the shield around the trio suddenly brightened in anticipation.

The weapon screeched loudly, causing Sans to perk up at the sight of it. The Blaster skull’s attention was drawn to the beast almost immediately - and sensing a threat, light surged to its maw.

Frisk watched as the beast silently darted forward.

Leaping upward, he brought up a claw and swiped across the berserk Blaster - sending it down _hard_ onto the steel floor. He landed with his forepaws pinning it down, a massive CLANG ringing out.

Stray shards flew through the air from the impact, and the laser energy building in the weapon’s maw spluttered and fizzled out. It shrieked and struggled to levitate off the ground - again attempting to shoot at its attacker as the beastly skeleton’s maw filled with blue light.

Sans unleashed his blast downwards at point blank.

The steel floor melted slightly in the heat of the beam. When it subsided, all that remained of the berserk Blaster were charred shards and ash.

Frisk swallowed, their throat dry.

Immediately, Sans’ attention was drawn to Gaster astride the final Blaster. The doctor was staring at him - notably more unsettled than he’d appeared, earlier.

Sans slowly stalked towards Gaster, finally breaking his silence with a low growl. The human noted that he seemed focused. Methodical.

Fluidly, he picked up speed, accelerating into a charge and leaping up towards the floating Blaster.

His teeth and claws sank into the skull with a horrible cracking sound. His weight pulled the weapon and the doctor downwards to the ground. The Blaster chattered in his grasp, but did not shoot.

It didn’t take long for Frisk to understand why.

The arms sticking out of Gaster’s back surged forward. The doctor wasn’t taking any precautions, this time.

All the hands slammed onto the Blaster’s head. Sans’ grip loosened slightly, white rings materialising within his dark sockets. His body relaxed, limply and lifelessly - though his claws and teeth still remained firmly gouged into the bone.

 ** _LET GO._** The doctor said. Frisk noted that his tone was shaky. **_DO AS I SAY._**

There was no movement from neither monster nor beast. The arms all remained focused on a single point, as did their master.

Frisk could not see Gaster’s face from this angle. But his arms began to twitch and spasm, as the white rings within Sans' dark eye sockets began to flicker.

The doctor veered back, his hands still grasping at Sans’ head, as two blue lights suddenly materialised before him.

His teeth still firmly embedded in the Blaster skull, Sans’ head violently jerked to the side.

There was the sound of bone crunching.

Frisk watched as the final Blaster was cleanly snapped in two. Its bifurcated jaw clattered to the ground in halves, and the rest of the weapon disintegrated into splinters and shards.

In one fell motion, Gaster withdrew his hands from Sans’s skull and his disappearing platform. His arms exploded outwards, bracing themselves against the electronic towers of the walkway and suspending himself above the beast - who dropped hard to the floor with a loud CLANG.

Sans stared down at the shards scattered upon the steel, eyes darting a little in thought. Then, his gaze returned to the doctor.

The beast didn’t look impressed.

Frisk grasped at Papyrus’ scarf, excitement swelling in their chest.

“I-I don’t get it…” Alphys whispered. “H-how did he…?”

“… I don’t know.” Undyne whispered back, wide-eyed. “And right now… I don’t think I care.”

Gaster stared down at Sans in silence. His web of arms kept him suspended near the ceiling. It seemed that he was stunned into silence.

His expression shifted. A nonchalant smile appeared, and he raised an eyebrow.

 **… WHAT NOW?** He asked.  
****

His expression was twisted back into one of frustration as light surged to Sans’ maw.  
****

He unleashed a blast towards the doctor, who skittered back, propelling him further down the corridor - still high above the floor. His legs and normal arms hung limply from his body, his face twitching as several different expressions tried to push themselves into shape.

_NOT IDEAL._

**RETREAT.**

NEW PLAN.  
****

The words spoke in unison. Three pairs of hands slammed onto his head, beginning to claw at the back of his skull.

Frisk watched as a small crack appeared, travelling up the back of his cranium. A black, tar like seemed to trickle out of it.

The doctor reeled backwards, his body thrashing in the centre of his arms.

 ** _I CAN FIX THIS._** Gaster said, hoarsely. **_I CAN_** **_FIX_ ** **_THIS -_ **

Another laser whine sounded. The doctor’s expression suddenly went blank.  
****

The crack on the back of his head sealed shut.

The arms propelled him out of the path of the oncoming blast. Sans shot beam after beam in his wake as the doctor scurried back down the hall, his limp body swaying uselessly with their jerky velocity.

“He’s getting _away!”_  
****

Undyne steadily pushed herself up to her feet, Frisk and Alphys supporting her weight as she stood.

“M-maybe he’s going back to the CORE…” The lizard monster said, shakily. “Th-there’s something there he’s looking at…”

 ** _“GET BACK HERE, DAMN IT!!!”_** The captain roared after him, clenching her fists. _“This isn’t **over** yet!”_

The trio stared hard at his retreat as he vanished around the corner.

To their collective puzzlement, silence fell. There were no more blasts pursuing the doctor.

"... I-I guess it _is?"_ Alphys asked, blinking.

A little confused, the small group turned as one.

Sans was staring at down the hall, his blue-lit gaze intense. His focus seemed to be on Gaster’s retreat. He had not moved from the broken Blaster skull’s position, the shards scattered around his claws.

Glancing at them briefly, he slowly turned away from the small group.

His focus taken by something else.

“… Papyrus.” Frisk whispered, eyes wide.

The rage in Undyne’s eye subsided.

Their friend lay still on the steel floor. A small light still sparked in the gaping hole in his skull.

Sans approached him slowly, with a growl. He stopped up metres away, lowering his head to face the injured beast at level.

Papyrus trilled back feebly, threatening to lapse back into unconsciousness.

Frisk broke into a run towards the two beasts. They heard Alphys and Undyne follow, the scientist calling after them.

_“W-wait - wait! They might not be - ”_

The human continued to run across the steel floor. Papyrus started at the sight of them, blinking in surprise.

_“Sans!”_

Frisk skidded to a halt when the other beast suddenly rounded on them in response with a loud and startled snarl at the sudden movement.

The human’s heart leapt into their throat at the threat.

… His movements were still feral. He was still alert from the fight.

Frisk initially took a step back, swallowing at the sight of his monstrous skull. His watchful gaze bore down on them, and the human suddenly felt very small.

There was a brief silence.

And then, to Frisk’s surprise, the creature took a step back, himself.

There were still blue lights in his eye sockets. But his expression had softened. He lowered his head to Frisk’s level, growling quietly.

… He was still alert. But he did not intend to harm Frisk.

“…Th-they might not be safe.” Alphys said, quietly as she approached. She stared hard at the creature, who was slowly pacing back and forth, eyes remaining fixed on the small group.

Undyne limped from behind her. She tiredly stared up at the Blaster.

“… Don’t tell me you’re stuck like this _too_ , numbskull.” She muttered.

Frisk watched at Sans continued to pace back and forth. He was being cagey. Protective.

… And they could understand why.

“I know… I know you’re angry.” They said, quietly. “But we’re not gonna hurt you. And won’t hurt him. We just want to help.”

Sans’ pacing slowed to a stop, eyes fixed on Frisk. The rumbling in his throat grew softer, and the human took that as a sign to slowly step forward.

“…I know you’re trying to protect him!” The human said, firmly. “But… but he’s in a lot of pain. And you… can’t try to do all this on your own.”

They fumbled with the end of their shirt, looking down for a moment. Then, they glanced back up at him, looking tired.

“I think you know that, too.”

Slowly, the creature glanced behind him, at his fallen brother. He turned back to Frisk, his growling ceasing entirely.

He suddenly looked solemn.

“Sans…”

Cautiously, Frisk placed their hands on his snout.

“…please let us help you this time, okay?”

The human watched as the two large eye sockets went completely black. Startled at the sight, Frisk thought to withdraw - and then froze.

Two white lights had materialised within the darkness.

 

 

* * *

 

 

His very first thought was that he felt _heavy._

He was coming down from a rush. The fight was still fresh in his mind. The anger, the fear - it had flooded his body completely, the motion keeping him agile. Defensive.

But now, he already felt awkward under the weight of his own bones. His entire body was heavier, harder to lift up than usual.

… At the very least, he’d become strong enough to carry himself.

The creature closed his eye sockets, his limbs shivering a little in fatigue as he slowly and carefully sat down on his haunches. It had been a long time since he’d consciously walked on all fours - he didn’t want to step on anyone.

Sans crooned lowly, his eyes reopening to look at the exhausted human before him.

 _< … aw, _**_kid._** _ > _He said, softly.

A growl had come out of him in the place of words, and he drew in a quiet breath. It dawned on him that any kind of apology he could muster probably wouldn’t be understood verbally.

Sans saw Frisk’s face light up into a smile regardless, their eyes looking glassy. They’d picked up on his behaviour pretty quickly.

“Hey, Sans.” They whispered, their voice wavering.

The Blaster lowered his head to their level. His mind felt a little blank - more in the sense that he didn’t know what to say or do. The sharp, paralysing fear of the mutagen had receded away for the first time in days - leaving him stunned in the wake of his panicked actions.

He gave a soft sigh, his brow creasing as he glanced to the steel floor.

Welp.

Frisk stepped up to him, and Sans felt their arms wrap around his muzzle. His eye sockets closed and he carefully curled a paw around them in return, crooning again quietly.

_< …i’m sorry, bud.  >_

Sans was about ready to collapse, then and there. But he couldn’t risk squashing the poor kid flat -he’d put Frisk through enough to begin with.

Sans’ eye sockets slid open to see Undyne and Alphys slowly approaching. The captain was staring directly at him, and he found himself glancing away.

… he’d put _everyone_ through enough.

A low groan sounded from behind him, and he froze.

Carefully withdrawing from Frisk, he turned to see his brother slowly rising from the ground.

His eye sockets grew wide.

“Papyrus!”

Frisk hurried past him, charging towards the beast. The light within the head injury glimmered slightly, before spluttering and fizzing out.

There was loud and sudden clicking sound that rolled outwards from the skeleton, and Frisk skidded to a halt. He was rattling his bones at an unknown threat, slowly attempting to stand once more.

Papyrus’ remaining eye-socket was half lidded, and unfocused.

“… how bad _was_ that hit?” Undyne said, gritting her teeth.

Sans stepped forward, startled as his brother tried to turn in the direction of the voice, warbling quietly.

 _< bro, _**_wait!_** _your head! > _He said, firmly - and cringed when nothing but a loud growl came out. There were no words. His voice was gone.

So he was startled when Papyrus suddenly froze on the spot.

The beast slowly turned to him. He looked at lot more thoughtful than he’d appeared moments ago - though his eye socket was still lit with orange.  
****

**_< WHAT... IS THAT…?  > _**He asked. ** _ < WHO IS THERE…? >_**

Sans froze.  
****

… It was just growls and trills. Rougher and a lot more guttural than his brother had ever sounded.

But he could hear. Sans could _understand_.

It was a strange noise - it sounded almost exactly the same to him as it did while he was a regular skeleton. And yet, _now_ he could hear the intent. He could almost hear Papyrus’ tired voice through it.

It all made sense to him.

Carefully, he approached.

 _< …it’s just us, bro…  >_ He sounded out, himself. It felt strange to him - like he was saying one thing and hearing another.

Shakily, his brother sank back down to the ground. Undyne glanced back over her shoulder at Sans, who took another step forward.

“Are you… _talking_ to him?” She asked, blinking. Sans stared back with a perplexed shrug, before turning back to Papyrus.

His tone growing more certain, he tried again.

_< papyrus - hey, buddy - can you hear me?  >_

**_< PAPYRUS…  >_ **

Sans could see that he appeared troubled.  
****

**_< … WHAT IS A PAPYRUS? > _**He trilled quietly, his expression becoming increasingly thoughtful.

The older skeleton winced. Then, he drew in a breath.

As disheartening as that was, it sounded about right. Names hadn't meant a whole lot to him, when he was in the thick of it. It stood to reason that even Papyrus would forget his own.

Sans leaned back a little in thought.

What had worked in the past? It hadn't been anything definitive. Just... bits and pieces. Words.

 _< …you weren’t _**_scared_** _just now, were you, bro? >  _Sans found himself saying, glancing down at his brother.

Papyrus’ eyes flickered a little ** _. < I-I… >_**

He seemed to think a moment. Sans watched as his expression suddenly became slightly indignant, his eye socket narrowing.

 ** _< N-NO.  >_** He trilled, blinking. **_< NOT… SCARED. I… WASN’T SCARED.  >_**

Sans tilted his head.

_< you weren’t? all that rattling at the kid right now… that was just for show?  >_

**_< WASN’T RATTLING…  >_** Papyrus suddenly seemed irritated, the white light flickering more insistently in his eye socket. **_< I DON’T RATTLE! THAT’S… THAT’S FOR BABY BONES!  >_**  
****

Despite the situation, a triumphant grin slowly stretched across Sans’ features.

 _< heh. well, yeah.  > _He shrugged. _< rattles _**_are_** _for baby bones. walked right into that one, pap. >_

A sudden screech sounded - this time from Papyrus himself. Frisk and Undyne stepped back, and Alphys suddenly darted behind the captain.

**_< THAT WAS - !  >_ **

The beast suddenly froze, the light in his eye socket shrinking into a pinprick.  
****

**_< …TH-THAT WAS…  >_ **

The orange light flickered, finally giving way to white. His gaze darted back to his brother, suddenly startled.  
****

_< … JUST _**_TERRIBLE_** _, SANS. > _Papyrus finished, stunned.

There was a silence. The older of the Blasters felt the tension leave him. 

_< heh.  >_ He croaked.

Papyrus' remaining eye socket was clear and focused. He even  _sounded_ clearer. Sans couldn’t really describe it. It was like Papyrus had been talking with his words slurring together, before. But now he seemed like he was enunciating. 

At least, whatever _passed_ for enunciating for this kind of speech.

 _< …heya, bro.  > _Sans greeted, quietly.

They stared at each other a moment. Papyrus' expression was more stunned than anything, but then he peered more closely. Sans felt a little self-conscious, watching the gears turn in his brother’s head.

_< YOU’RE…  >_

At first, Papyrus seemed alarmed - almost a little saddened.

_< HE… HE GOT YOU, TOO?  >_

Sans paused, his gaze darting a little in thought.

 _< … yeah.  >_ He said.

There was a brief silence. Then, he looked back over at Papyrus and lifted a paw in a nonchalant manner.

 _< … he couldn’t get a hand-le on me, though.  >_ Sans added. _< not even with that arm-y of his.  >_

There was another silence.

Sans partially anticipated another screech. But instead, he was caught off-guard as Papyrus’ remaining eye socket suddenly shone in joy.

Something had clicked.

 _< … YOU’RE _**_OKAY_** _… > _He said, his voice wavering.

Sans blinked.

With a grunt, the other beast started to lift himself to his feet.

_< … YOU …Y-YOU’RE -  >_

The light in his remaining eye socket suddenly rolled back - and he immediately crumpled back to the ground.

A wordless growl rumbled through Sans as he stepped forward. _< _**_easy!_** _easy, bro. >_

He hoped that Papyrus hadn’t just knocked himself out again.

His brother let out a low whine. His eyes flickered orange a little - more out of a loss of focus than anything, before glancing back up at Sans. His expression cleared.

 _< I’M… I’M OKAY…  >_ He reassured, with a groan. _< I JUST… THE GROUND SEEMS TO BE MOVING…  > _He added, frowning. _ < I’M SURPRISED… THAT YOU’RE STANDING ON IT SO EASILY. >_

Papyrus peered up at Sans. He suddenly looked startled.

_< ARE YOU ALRIGHT, BROTHER…?  >_

His eye suddenly grew wide in recollection. _< I-IS EVERYONE OKAY?  >_

Sans glanced over his shoulder at the group, who had moved closer.

 _< see for yourself.  >_ He said, stepping aside.

Frisk hurried forward. Alphys was approaching, still supporting Undyne - who hadn’t stopped staring at Papyrus.

Her expression was unreadable.

The beastly skeleton crooned quietly at their approach, starting to lift his head up again - only to remember his current status and simply turn his head to face the human.

 _< FRISK! I-I’M SO SORRY I DROPPED YOU!  >_ He cried. _ < THANK GOODNESS YOU’RE OKAY! >_

Something red unfurled from around Frisk’s neck, and he blinked in surprise

_< …OH!  >_

The human stopped up at his skull, Papyrus’ scarf bunched in their hands - almost laughably large compared to them. With a small grunt, they threw it over the hole on his skull, covering it completely.

Papyrus appeared a little confused, but kept still during the process. Sans, on the other hand, was grateful for Frisk’s efforts. 

Looking at the injury still made him feel pretty queasy.

“Your eye.” Frisk said, quietly, as they tied the end securely over one of his horns. “…Is it going to be okay?”

“If we hurry.” Undyne said, approaching with Alphys. “Otherwise, we’re gonna be a matching set.” She pointed at her own missing eye.

Sans noted that her tone lacked her usual enthusiasm. Alphys must have noticed it, too, because she reached out and hesitantly held the royal captain’s arm.

“I-I’m sure you can heal it.” She said, softly. “B-but you gotta replenish your energy, too… and we should probably move him out of here, first…”

She looked over her shoulder down the hall that the doctor had retreated. “G-Gaster might come _back_ , after all.”

There was a pause. 

The entire group looked down at the scientist.

“… how’d you know his name?” Frisk asked, blinking.

Alphys fumbled with her claws, and slowly looked over at Sans.

The beastly skeleton stared back, before she turned away.

“W-we can share stories later.” She said. “If we… If we get to the MTT Resort, I can lock down the main entrance to the CORE.” Her eyes narrowed. “Gaster might be able to override it, but…”

“It’s our best bet at the moment.” Undyne said, her tone still tired. “…Okay. We get Papyrus to safety. We seal the CORE entrance. We heal him.”

Her gaze intensifying, Undyne looked up at Sans.

“Is _that_ simple enough of a plan for you?” She muttered.

There wasn’t a lot of bite left to the words. The beast stared down at the captain. Saw her missing eye, the extra slashes on her arms and shoulder. Saw a bit of membrane torn off of one of her fins.

Eye sockets dimming, he nodded.

“Good.” She turned to Papyrus, who trilled over at her.

 _< …UNDYNE?  >_ He asked, blinking.

The captain paused at the sound. Then, turned away from him to look back at Alphys.

“…Let’s get moving.” She said, firmly.

“But Papyrus can’t walk properly right now.” Frisk said, withdrawing from him carefully. “How do we get him out?”

Sans thought a moment.

He couldn’t use his SOUL magic in this form. Undyne could probably pull the hapless Papyrus out of here easily, but Sans wasn’t a fan of the idea of his brother’s battered skull being dragged on the floor.

Sans turned and approached Papyrus. His footfalls seemed to come so naturally, now - he walked steadily on all fours. The knowledge of walking with them all those years ago had never really left him.

 _< kinda like ridin’ a bike.  > _He muttered to himself, grimly.

Papyrus glanced up at his approach, blinking in confusion.

_< SANS?  >_

Sans lowered himself to the ground next to his brother.

_< … bear with me a sec, bro.  >_

He nudged his skull under one of Papyrus’ forelegs, and then under his collarbone. With a grunt, Sans pushed himself up - gently pulling his brother’s head and foreleg further over his shoulder with his paw, securing Papyrus on his back.

He blinked, feeling his bones strain a little. Papyrus was lighter than he’d been expecting - out of the two of them, he seemed built more for speed. The lanky skeleton still weighed a lot, however - but this definitely beat a teenage Papyrus asking to be carried and Sans collapsing moments later.

 _< …when’d you get so heavy, bro?  >_ Sans found himself muttering.

 _< ABOUT A FEW HOURS AGO.  >_ Papyrus retorted, sleepily. _< WEREN’T YOU PAYING ATTENTION?  >_

 _< … i was sorta out of it.  >_ Sans muttered, carefully starting to walk forward. When they were certain Papyrus was secure, Frisk hurried back to support Undyne alongside Alphys. The small group began to slowly make their way to the CORE exit.

Papyrus groaned, quietly. Sans could feel him shaking his head a little.

_< … I WISH MY EYE WOULD STAY OPEN.  >_

Sans’ gaze flicked back. _< probably best if you try to stay awake, bro. ‘least until we’ve got ya set up somewhere that ain’t my back.  >_He looked ahead. _< we should hurry, though. don’t wanna sprain my verte-bro.  >_

A loud groan sounded.

 _< UGH… I’M PERFECTLY **SPINE** , BROTHER. > _Papyrus shot back.

Sans snickered, quietly. _< that’s the spirit.  >_

_< … SANS?  >_

The older skeleton blinked. Papyrus’ tone had grown quiet.

He peered back at him, suddenly concerned.

_< what’s up, papyrus?  >_

His brother looked back at him, suddenly appearing exhausted.

_< …I REALLY MISSED TALKING TO YOU.  >_

There was a pause.

Sans chuckled, tiredly.

 _< yeah.  >_ He said. _< same here, bro.  >_

 

 

* * *

 

 

_The blue light slowly faded away._

_Papyrus’ mitts lowered from his eyes, and he blinked, his vision starting to clear._

_He’d nearly dived behind a tree, again. There had been a loud sound - like an explosion. There’d been something cracking and snapping like twigs._

_Papyrus tried to focus on the beast, as his vision came back into focus. At first, he thought it had blended into the white of the snow - but a few more blinks revealed to him that it wasn’t there at all._

_Papyrus glanced down to the disturbed snow before him. A great big beast-sized body-print was there in the powder._

_And in the centre of it, a much smaller figure._

_The ends of his lab coat were torn and tattered. There were still burns on his skull and arms, which twitched as the last of the blue energy crackled off of them._

_Papyrus’ mitts dropped to his sides._

_He stared in silence for a moment, at the skeleton lying on the snow before him._

_He wasn’t moving._

_Papyrus took a shaking step forward. Then a second._

_Then, he broke into a run. He hurried over to his older brother, eye sockets wide._

_“SANS!?”_

_Where had he come from? Why was he…?_

_… What had happened?!_

_Papyrus arrived beside him, trying to shake him awake._

_“SANS… SANS, HEY!”_

_His brother tensed under his grip, with a groan. His hands slowly grasping at the snow, he shakily began to push himself up._

_“H-HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” Papyrus asked, wide-eyed. “I DIDN’T KNOW YOU COULD DO THAT!”_

_First his brother could make his eye go flashy. Now he could turn into a huge and super-strong beast?_

_Wowie. What **else** could his brother do?_

_Carried away with the thought, Papyrus was startled when Sans suddenly collapsed back to the snow._

_“S-SANS?”_

_Papyrus abruptly withdrew his mitts, realising up close that all the burns he’d seen on the giant beast were still there…_

_His eye sockets grew wide, as Sans slowly tried to lift himself up, again._

_… the beast had been hurt… his **brother** had been hurt…_

_The little skeleton knelt low, trying to look at Sans’ face._

_“SANS… SANS, ARE YOU OKAY - ”_

_Papyrus froze when his brother slowly looked over at him._

_His eye sockets were completely dark._

_The little skeleton stared back at him, stunned. He’d never seen Sans look so tired, before._

_… He’d never seen him look so **scared**._

_Papyrus didn’t like it. Not one bit. Sans was the big brother. He was very tough. He wasn’t scared of anything._

_But he wasn’t speaking. He wasn’t moving.… it was like he’d woken from a nightmare and just… frozen up._

_Thinking quickly, he suddenly pulled his big brother into the strongest hug he could manage. He felt so cold and heavy… and he was shaking, too…_

_Papyrus felt Sans’ arms weakly encircle him._

_“… bro…” He croaked, in a voice he’d never used before. Papyrus hugged him tighter, eye sockets shutting from his efforts._

_“… I-IT’S GONNA BE OKAY.” He said, remembering to keep his voice as calm-sounding as he could. Like Sans usually did. “YOU’RE GOING TO BE OKAY.”_

_There was no response. His brother was shaking, and Papyrus knew for a fact that it wasn’t from the cold._

_He decided to pretend it was, for his brother’s sake._

_Sans had let him use that excuse all the time, after all._

_With a grunt, he yanked Sans’ arm over his shoulder and stood, helping the older skeleton to his feet. He was starting to approach his big brother’s height, but Sans was still heavier than he was._

_His brother stared back at him blankly, lights finally materialising within his eye sockets._

_“I’M GONNA GET YOU HOME.”  Papyrus said, firmly. “…I REALLY MEAN IT, THIS TIME.”_

_With a grunt, he slowly began to walk, pulling Sans along. His brother dragged his feet - but he managed to fall into a steady pace through the snow._

_Sans simply stared at the ground with blank eyes, clutching at his head. Papyrus gripped his arm tighter as they made their way towards the path to Snowdin._

 

* * *

 

_< it’s okay, bro.  >_

 

* * *

 

_“IT’S ALRIGHT, BROTHER!”_

 

* * *

__

 

**_"I've got you."_ **

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for the last arc. And a break.  
> Thank you for sticking with me. I really appreciate it. : )


	25. A View

The MTT Resort was dark.

 

The external structure of the CORE could vaguely be seen from the main entrance hall. The deep red and blue glow of the facility lights were dim from the small amount of power, but enough to vaguely illuminate the room to some degree of visibility.

A peaceful quiet crept through the red carpeted halls. Their usually-pristine condition was marred by shallow claw marks. It was unintentional, but at this point, none of the current trespassers could care less.

“P-Papyrus… please.”

A low growl suddenly rang out through the darkness, rumbling through the gloom.

“Y-You can’t keep doing this… th-this is for your own good…”

The growl became deeper and louder. The miasma hung thick in the air, the darkness constricting the room.

Finally, the noise was silenced by the sound of a heavy boot slamming down onto the carpet.

 _“EAT. THE. GLAMBURGER!!”_ Undyne snapped.

Papyrus let out a loud groan of protest.

He was currently lying down on the carpeted floor, his scarf folded out below his massive skull as a makeshift cushion. A blanket from one of the unreasonably large MTT beds down the hall had been draped over most of his body - though it was a futile effort for the most part. His jagged spines had already torn holes straight through it.

“M-maybe it might not your first choice, but you really need to eat something.” Alphys said, hovering near his skull. “You lost a lot of bone mass. We can’t heal you properly unless you replace it!”

Undyne growled. “Look, Pap, if you’re not gonna listen to me, then listen to _her.”_ She gestured towards Alphys with both scarred hands. “She’s the qualified doctor around here!”

“… I-I’m not _that_ kind of doctor.” Alphys added, quietly. Then, she suddenly put on a stern expression and took the captain by the hands. “A-and _you_ need to be resting, too!”

Papyrus groaned again, glancing at the small pile of food nearby as Alphys pulled Undyne aside. The group had managed to scavenge a fairly large amount from the nearby MTT Burger Emporium.

He really didn’t have much of an appetite, _especially_ not for anything greasy. He loved Mettaton’s style and merchandise - but it fell prey to the same problem every fast food restaurant generally had.

Reluctantly, he nudged a Glamburger. After a moment, he ate it whole with a single snap.

…At least the sequins cancelled out the greasiness a little.

Undyne watched him, reluctantly sitting down as the food dissolved into magical energy within his jaws.

“That’s **better.** ” She said, with a glare. Alphys gave Papyrus a quick glance, before turning back to her.

“U-Undyne - you really gotta eat something, too.”

The captain’s eye narrowed.

“Not before I know for a fact that Papyrus is gonna heal.” She said, sternly. “… gotta put your troops first.”

Her torn ear fins suddenly drooped.

“… especially if you made a tactical error.”

Papyrus stared up at her, startled. Alphys withdrew from her, her expression growing sad.

“Undyne…”

 _“So you eat up, you hear me?!”_ Undyne roared, suddenly holding a massive Face Steak above her head. _“I’m_ ** _not_** _letting you lose your depth perception - ‘cause trust me when I say that’s a pain in the ass to re-learn!!!_ ** _And_** _to teach!!!”_

Papyrus veered back as the steak slammed down on the floor before him. With a sigh, he ate it all in another mouthful, growing queasy again at the sheer amount of grease.

A good half-hour had passed since they’d made their way out of the CORE Facility.

The small group was weary and exhausted. True to her word, Alphys had locked down the CORE entrance as best she could - just in case Gaster chose to go after them. The scientist was frazzled, but seemed to go along with the situation without question. She was preoccupied with making sure Undyne was alright, but Papyrus noted her stealing several glances at him.

_“I found a Starfait!”_

Papyrus spun to the side, and was met with the sight of Frisk leaning into view out from the doorframe of the MTT Burger Emporium - the food item held high above their head. The normally flashy interior was completely dark - save for the light source of one of Undyne’s spears embedded in the floor, nearby.

Frisk had remained the most energetic of the group. After making it to the resort, they’d run from person to person - making sure they could be as helpful as possible. They certainly had - though judging by the bags under the young human’s eyes, Papyrus couldn’t help but wonder if they needed rest, too.

“Are you sure this is okay to eat?” Frisk approached Papyrus with the Starfait, frowning down at it. “The fridge wasn’t working.”

“Nothing you gotta worry about.” Undyne was staring down at a Face Steak of her own, handed to her by Alphys. “Monster food doesn’t spoil, remember?”

She took a bite out of the steak for emphasis.

Papyrus noticed that Undyne had been particularly exhausted by this turn of events. Her focus had been entirely on the beastly skeleton being healed as soon as possible - though that meant looking after her own energy, first. Papyrus was used to seeing Undyne frustrated - but this time around, she seemed incredibly tired by this turn of events.

He wished he could say something.

His attention was caught by a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye. Frisk had wound up and vaulted the Starfait towards Papyrus. Snapping to attention, he snapped it up, glass and all.

The throbbing pain in his skull finally lessened quite a bit, as the food dissolved into magical energy within his jaws. Papyrus still couldn’t see out of his injured eye socket, but he certainly didn’t feel like the room was spinning, anymore.

…Nor did he feel like he was about to slip into his ‘other’ state, either.

“A-Alright. We just need to give everyone time to rest for a bit.” Alphys said, picking up a Glamburger, herself. “Then we can see about healing the more… serious injuries.”

“Dunno if we have a lot of time for that.” Undyne muttered, taking another bite out of the steak. “We got no clue what Gaster’s up to.”

Alphys faltered. “… That’s true.” She looked down. “Gaster seems… capable of rewiring the door mechanisms, from what i’ve seen.” She added, frowning.

The scientist gave a sad smile, as her gaze turned to the MTT Resort exit.

“A-at the very least, we’re not completely… defenseless.”

Undyne frowned, following her gaze. “Guess not.”

She drew her face into a snarl.

_“Hey, knucklehead! You gotta eat something, too!”_

Papyrus blinked, suddenly glancing over to where the other beast sat.

The older of the skeleton brothers was currently positioned at the hall that led to the Resort exit. His eyes remained fixed on the distant blast doors of the CORE facility - though he’d periodically looked over his shoulder to check on his brother.

He chuffed nonverbally in response to Undyne, without looking back at the group.

Papyrus raised a brow, picking glass shards out of his teeth.

Sans had given Papyrus space the moment he’d placed him down on the floor. He’d been on guard the entire time, facing the shattered Resort exit.

He hadn’t budged an inch.

Frisk suddenly approached the food pile, picking out a few Hero Sandwiches. Stacking a fair few in their arms, they hurried over to Sans. He turned, a little startled at their approach.

“… You gotta have something.” Frisk said, setting them down on the floor. “You’re nothing but bones.”

Sans stared at them a moment. Then, a smirk appeared on his features.

 _< …thanks, kid.  > _He said, quietly. Frisk didn’t look like they understood - but they beamed back, anyway.

Papyrus could still see the claw marks on the side of Sans’ skull. As he ate, the self-inflicted slashes began to shallow out - finally fading away.

The taller skeleton automatically relaxed, watching them vanish.

“At least we got him as a lookout.” Undyne muttered, rubbing at her missing eye in irritation. “If there’s anything I’ve learned, today, Sans can sense the doc from a mile away.”

“Oh.” Alphys said, quietly. She looked down at her feet. “I-I guess that makes sense.”

Papyrus’ head rose the slightest bit at her reaction. Undyne turned to face her fully, looking considerably more alert.

“Hey, Alphie… you okay?”

Papyrus raised a brow at the nickname, and the scientist jolted.

“I-I’m fine! P-perfectly okay!” She said, wide-eyed. “C-compared to all of you… I-I mean.”

Undyne’s eye twitched. In a blur, she rushed forward, lifting Alphys off the ground and staring directly into her eyes.

“He didn’t **hurt** you, did he?” She snarled, her gaze darting to the Resort exit.

Alphys shook her head rapidly. “N-no! I mean… n-nothing that exciting happened.” She gave a sigh. “H-He didn’t hurt me. I j-just got locked up.”

She perked up. “B-But I escaped! I just stayed in the l-lower facility. I didn’t want to try running into Gaster, again.”

Undyne blinked.

“… **lower** facility?” She muttered. “Thought it was just one level.”

Out of the corner of his remaining eye, Papyrus saw Sans freeze in mid-bite.

Alphys’ brow creased in thought. “It’s… cut off from the rest of the building.” She mumbled. “It’s inaccessible. It has been since…”

Her gaze lowered. “S-Since… the last Royal Scientist was wiped out of existence.”

There was a silence. All the occupants of the room turned to Alphys.

Undyne placed the scientist back down to the floor, blinking.

“… You **know** about that?”

Alphys suddenly looked up at the captain, startled.

“ **Y-you** know about that?!” She said, blinking.

Undyne snorted, crossing her legs. “Yeah! Like, bits and pieces!” She jerked her thumb in Sans’ direction. “This guy’s been extra cagey about the details! He barely explained a thing, even when the doc was in hot pursuit!”

“Alphys?”

Frisk’s small voice had gained the scientist’s attention. They were standing up straight, holding a Starfait of their own.

“… do you know where Gaster came from?” They asked, quietly.

Papyrus looked over at his brother, whose gaze rose from Frisk to face the scientist.

Alphys stared, her lenses reflecting the faint glow of the CORE exterior. Sweat beaded on her forehead.

“I-I… I guess I’ll tell you what I know.”

She took a deep, shaking breath.

“… I-I was, um… I was hiding. For the most part.” Alphys began, quietly. “I was just trying to deactivate the CORE, l-like I was instructed to. The Underground exodus was going on… and everyone was eager to l-leave…”

Papyrus lowered his head back down to the ground, settling down to listen.

It seemed like a long time since that morning in Snowdin. He was bipedal, back then. Things were certainly easier.

“B-but then… after I started the deactivation process, the CORE started acting… strange.”

Papyrus’ attention returned to Alphys, who was frowning to herself. “It shrank to a certain size a-and then…”

She looked up at Sans, who was slowly approaching to listen in on the explanation.

“… it grew _stable.”_ She said, wide-eyed. “Self-sufficient. All on its own.”

Papyrus blinked as his brother’s eyes narrowed.

“The CORE’s been actin’ weird this whole time.” Undyne muttered, sitting up. “Sans mentioned that Gaster’s using it?”

Alphys blinked. “Using it…?” She glanced downwards. “For what?”

“What’d you call it? An ‘anchor?’” The captain glanced over at Sans, who blinked.

“ ‘A foot in the door of existence.’ “ Frisk said, holding their finger up in the air, with their voice taking on a slight drawl.

The group turned to the human. Frisk’s hand lowered to their side.

“That’s how _he_ said it.” They said, glancing at Sans, who raised a brow in response.

Alphys’ claw rose to her mouth.

“I-I see…”

She shook her head. “W-when I saw Gaster appearing… I wasn’t s-sure if he meant well. E-especially after I saw… w-when he mentioned…”

She trailed off, looking up at the taller of the skeleton beasts.

“H-he mentioned you by _name,_ Papyrus.”

The Blaster raised his head, startled.

“I didn’t know what to think of that. H-he was talking to one of those… ‘Blaster’ things, too. I-It didn’t sit well with me…”

For the first time since they’d entered the resort, Sans and Papyrus shared a look.

“A-anyway, like I said… I-I made my way into the lower facility…” Alphys continued. “I was looking for a way out, b-but… I’d never been down there before.” She mumbled, looking back up at the Blaster. “I-It was always sealed off… even after I’d… gotten the position of Royal Scientist…”

Alphys glanced aside. The lizard looked hesitant to speak.

Slowly, she turned to Sans and wandered towards him.

Sans stared back at Alphys, standing up off his haunches as she held out her claws. In a blink, something materialised within them, summoned from her inventory.

Papyrus blinked in confusion.

It was a tape cassette.

It looked old - like some kind of piece of junk one would find in the garbage dump.

That wasn’t the weird part, though. Peering closer with his one good eye socket, Papyrus noted that it was the slightest bit _see-through._ He could see the palms of Alphys’ scaly hands through them.

“I found the old security records room.” Alphys continued, sounding a little sheepish. “I, uh… holed up in there for a while…”

“Security records?” Undyne asked, raising an eyebrow.

Alphys looked back at her, giving an awkward smile. “I s-sorta marathoned through them… while waiting for my signal to come _back_ \- or for s-some kind of help to get through o-or…”

Her voice caught in her throat.

Almost immediately, her smile dropped. She clutched the tape in her claws, hugging it close to her chest.

She was silent.

Undyne got up, stepping forward. “Alphys?”

“…He was your _friend.”_

Papyrus blinked. The lizard monster’s voice was shaky.

“Y-you were a _team_ … you _worked_ for him…”

Alphys’ eyes were watering when she looked back up at Sans.

Only now did Papyrus realise that his brother’s eye sockets had gone completely black.

“Sans… I’m s-so _sorry…_ ”

The room was silent for a moment.

The beast was still. He made no noise, no indication that he was even conscious.

Papyrus craned his neck to look at him from his position on the floor.

 _< … SANS?  > _He asked.

His brother’s eye sockets lit back up in response.

Carefully, Sans stepped forward, lowering his head to Alphys’ level. The scientist was hurriedly wiping her eyes from behind her glasses.

Papyrus couldn’t quite read his expression. It wasn’t because of his current form - both skeleton brothers were actually _remarkably_ expressive as Blasters. But he seemed visibly guarded, now.

His gaze was fixed on the tape, in silence. A small glare crept onto his features.

Finally, Sans looked back up at Alphys.

 _< c’mon, al.  > _He said. _ < you got nothin’ to be sorry for, right now. >_

His words, of course, weren’t understood. But they came out in a deep, calming croon - and the scientist hurriedly collected herself.

Undyne had approached from the side. She placed a solid hand on Alphys’ shoulder and knelt to her level.

“…Hey. You okay?” She asked, her tone becoming far more gentle than what Papyrus was used to.

Frisk, in the meantime, had reached out towards the tape. The scientist slowly handed it to the human, still uneasy.

“Why’s it like this?” Frisk asked, holding it up to their eyes and peering through it.

“…I’m not exactly sure.” Alphys said, carefully. “I think…”

She took in a deep breath. “…I think it m-might be because its _contents…_ feature data that no longer… _exists.”_

She looked back up at Frisk. “ _P-People_ who no longer exist.”

“You mean Gaster?”

Papyrus turned to Undyne, whose features were scrunched into a thoughtful glare.

“M-More than… just Gaster.” Alphys said quietly, wiping the last of her tears away with her claw.  “The entire science team… they were all erased from existence…”

The scientist paused, before turning to face Sans entirely.

“E-everyone except **you.** ” She said.

There was a pause.

The Blaster’s expression did not change. But his spines grew tense and rigid.

Papyrus’ gaze mainly remained fixed on Alphys, startled.

“… _Sans_ was part of the Royal Science team?” Undyne asked, eye wide and teeth gritted.

Then, her expression fell, and she took another bite out of the Face Steak.

“Yeah, you know what? I’ve kinda run out of things to be surprised by when it comes to this guy.” She growled, tiredly. “Mr ‘Look at me, I can _totally_ operate the CORE, and use _huge_ floating cannons and _teleport_ and hold _multiple_ jobs by slacking _off and mumble mumble - ’ ”_

The captain’s ranting grew muffled as she finished her steak. Wincing a little, Frisk turned to look at Sans, having placed their Starfait aside.

“… You’ve known Gaster for a long time.” They remarked, blinking. “What happened?”

Slowly, Sans’ gaze landed back onto the carpet. Papyrus realised that he was looking at the claw marks left behind from simply walking into the resort.

He looked back up at Alphys, who tensed at the sight of his eye sockets going black. His expression, however, was quite exhausted.

 _< … you know, uh… i’d say something…  >_ He muttered, raising an eyebrow. _< …but you’ve really put me on the spot, here.  >_

The words came out as a low growl, and a bead of sweat appeared on Alphys’ forehead.

There was a pause.

 _< … I THOUGHT IT WAS BECAUSE WE LITERALLY CAN’T SPEAK.  > _Papyrus found himself chiming in.

The beginnings of a smile appeared on his brother’s features.

With a single digit, Sans began to claw at the carpet with shallow, deliberate strokes. It took Papyrus a moment to realize that he was scrawling something out.

Alphys slowly approached, Frisk and Undyne following after. It took a bit of focus from Papyrus, but even he could make out his brother’s chicken scratch scrawl upside-down.

 

**_t e l l t h e m e v e r y t h i n g y o u s a w_ **

 

Another few beads of sweat appeared on Alphys’ forehead.

“A-are you sure…?” She looked up, only to see Sans slowly turning away. His focus was elsewhere, as he began to walk off.

Papyrus tensed.

The other Blaster was moving towards the Resort Exit. Towards the CORE.

“Whoa - _hold_ up, knucklehead!” Undyne stood up straight, visibly looking a lot less scarred. “Where the _hell_ do you think you’re going?!”

Sans continued to wordlessly walk down the hall. He ducked down a little to fit through the double-door exit - his spines scraping against the top of the doorframe.

Frisk began to give chase - halting in their tracks when Sans stopped moving, just outside the doors.

Slowly, he sat down, his gaze fixed on the CORE exterior.

He didn’t move.

“M-maybe he… just wants some space.” Alphys said, quietly. Undyne seemed to visibly relax on the spot, but her glare remained apparent. Frisk slowly returned to the group, looking over their shoulder as they approached.

Alphys turned to the small crew, fiddling with her claws.

“I-I guess…I’ll explain as best I can.” She mumbled. Frisk looked down at the security tape still in their grasp, frowning a little.

Papyrus slowly turned to look down the hall. He couldn’t quite tell how far off Sans was - it was difficult to gauge distance with only one eye.

His gaze flicked back to Alphys, who had begun to speak. He tried to listen to her words, but kept turning to look down the hall in concern.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t curious about his brother’s past - he honestly was! Sans had never mentioned a thing about being part of the science team! He’d never mentioned anything about working much at all! Or what he got up to, way back when Papyrus was a baby bones.

The skeleton frowned.

After the day that he’d found Sans in the woods - in his strange, beastly form - Papyrus hadn’t been sure if it was right to _ask._

He continued to stare hard down the hall, Alphys’ words becoming incomprehensible.

Papyrus still felt quite weak.It was difficult to entertain the thought of even standing up. He needed energy.

The Blaster sighed, and turned to look at the nearby pile of awful, greasy food.

He eyed it warily, for a moment.

Then, eye socket blazing in determination, he began to wolf it down.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

The air was heavy.

There was a yell from what seemed like miles away, but Sans didn’t really catch what it said. Nor did he really pay much attention to where he was going.

For the moment, he just wanted to be out of the room.

It wasn’t until the floor changed from carpet to wood that his gaze rose at last. He looked around, blinking slowly. The distant wind echoed through the chasm before him, and he found himself sitting down on his haunches.

The overlook of the CORE entrance had always intimidated him a bit.

Especially way back when he was fifteen. Before he’d fully developed his ability to teleport, he’d spent many mornings travelling to work - cautiously tiptoeing across the railless walkway. The chasm below was dark, with a ‘depth of twenty-five miles,’ he’d been told.

Before the MTT Resort had been built, the area had been fairly industrial. But now, the CORE overlook had been fashioned into something wooden, ambient and homely. Sans almost marvelled at the way the wooden panels slowly morphed into the blue steel of the CORE facility building.

The bushes that grew out from planters in the resort behind him were still a lush green. A couple of leaves littered the verandah - they probably hadn’t been watered in some time.

The wooden panels creaked under Sans’ weight as he stood once more and stepped forward, up to the railing.

He relaxed into a lying position, propping his head up on the railing itself. The wood creaked again a little - but Sans figured that if the balcony had been heavy enough to support himself and his brother, he probably wasn’t about to plummet into the abyss (Besides, Mettaton probably wasn’t the type to tolerate poor accommodation for monsters of all shapes and sizes).

Behind him, he could hear the muted tones of Alphys’ voice - muffled by the wind that echoed through the darkness. A small part of him listened for changes of tones. For an exclamation, perhaps.

Then, he closed his eyes.

 _< who’s being nosy _**_now,_** _buddy? >_ Sans muttered to himself. He’d stepped outside for a reason.

If the skeleton was being honest with himself, he really wasn’t in the mood to hear everything about the CORE incident be recounted like some kind of haphazard history lesson. And he’d never particularly taken to being the centre of attention, either. It just made him uncomfortable.

Sans knew that the responsible thing to do was to probably stay behind - make sure their stories matched up, that there weren’t any inaccuracies. Alphys did have a flair for the dramatic, if her taste in entertainment was anything to go by.

But…

Sans sighed, recalling the way the scientist had approached him with the tape.

…That expression.

That was the expression of someone who’d seen _everything._

 _…_ At the very least, it worked out. Unless the group spontaneously learned how to understand growls and trills, it wasn’t like he could explain anything himself, right now.

Sans felt his tail twitch.

Figures that everything he’d spent a good amount of time hiding away would be dredged up for all the world to see.

Not like he’d really had to worry too much about hiding things for the past twelve years. There’d been almost nothing _to_ hide.

Nothing entirely tangible, anyway.

But now, whether he liked it or not, it was out in the open. And he didn’t feel like stonewalling anyone about it, anymore. There was no point.

Being secretive about this whole deal had almost gotten everyone dusted.

Sans’ eye sockets slid closed.

He guessed he could blame the mutagen. But his panicked rush to cover it up and counter it had resulted in people getting hurt. He could no longer pretend that this was a problem he could fix quickly.

He could no longer pretend that this was a problem he could fix alone.

His eye sockets reopened to narrow at the CORE facility, and he shifted his body back a little, taking his head off the railing and lowering it down upon his claws.

Well… if no help had arrived, and if this small crew was all they had against the doctor, it was better if they knew some context at least. The security footage was pretty telling.

He’d know. Years after the fact, he’d gone through the video himself.

Sans raised a brow in thought.

Though, that tape cassette sure was looking a lot more _opaque_ than the last time he’d seen it.

With a sigh, he chose to dismiss the thought. He couldn’t really bring himself to care about the matter, right now.

He was tired. He couldn’t sense the good doctor anywhere nearby at the moment, and was tempted to just take a nap, here and now.

The tension in his bones, the tightness in his sternum and the sting of the claw marks on his skull - they were all gone.

It had been a while since he’d felt so _calm._ But all the same, he couldn’t quite bring himself to sleep.

He was relaxed, but he wasn’t… comfortable.

Sans breathed in deeply, and exhaled - blinking in surprise when his breath came out as a pale blue haze, speckled with sparks.

 _This_ was taking some getting used to, for one.

Slowly, and with some effort, he pushed himself up onto his haunches.

… Alright. What was he working with, here?

He was a lot bigger, for one. He’d barely been able to crawl out of the MTT resort exit, and he was pretty sure he’d done some damage to the doorframe. The spikes jutting out from his back felt longer than they’d been, the last time he’d consciously wandered around in this form.

He had a tail, too. It sort of had a mind of its own - he was pretty sure it hadn’t stopped moving since he’d laid down here. Nothing really frantic or frenetic - just a slow kind of slither from side to side, punctuated with the occasional twitch.

After a moment, he experimentally let his lower jaw split open. The left side hinged outwards, then the right, before they came back together with a ‘click.’

He smirked. Gross.

Finally, he looked down at his claws. There was absolutely no sign of his thumbs - minus his dewclaws. He could still work his individual digits, but it said a lot when he felt more dextrous picking things up with his massive jaws.

Sans stared down at his form, eyes narrowed in thought.

… No. He wasn’t comfortable at _all,_ like this.

After a beat, the skeleton found himself closing his eye sockets. He focused hard on his own image - the way he was supposed to look like.

The magic in his SOUL responded. It pulsed, and he heard his own magical energy begin to crackle around him -

 _< SANS, _ **_WAIT_ ** _\- ! >_

\- before he felt the air around him thrum.

Sans’ eye sockets shot open just in time to see violet particles of energy sparking into view. He caught a glimpse of the nearby rifts suddenly flickering into view around him as the violet sparks surged forward, closing in on him with a loud crackling sound.

The pain was brief, but unbearably intense.

Sans collapsed to the ground with a startled hiss. He felt his bones hold fast to their current shape, straining in protest against his own thoughts. His own natural blue energy had been abruptly extinguished by the violet, straight off the surface of his bones.

Drawing in one shaking breath after the other, he watched as the offending energy faded away, and the air around him became calm, once more.

Through blurred vision, he looked at his forelegs laid out before him, his skull still throbbing from the impact.

… Same old claws. The same, perfectly useless digits.

_< ARE YOU OKAY?!  >_

Sans woozily turned his head to face the source of the voice. He was startled at the sight of another Blaster approaching him, but suddenly relaxed.

_< … bro?  >_

Seeing Papyrus as a Blaster was _still_ taking some getting used to.

His brother was hurrying towards him, crouching a little to fit through the door to MTT Resort. The glass shards from the shattered door crunched underfoot as he approached.

 _< IT REALLY HURTS TO TRY CHANGING BACK LIKE THAT!  > _He said firmly - half stern, half concerned. _< I’VE ALREADY TRIED, REMEMBER?  >_

Sans slowly attempted to rise back up, but his aching limbs gave out from beneath him again almost instantly.

 _< i noticed.  > _He muttered.

After a moment, Papyrus reached over with his head - teeth chomping down on the remains of Sans’ hood. He lifted Sans upwards, and the older skeleton’s forelegs shakily found a stable foothold on the floor.

 _< … thanks, bro.  > _He mused, shaking off the wooziness. Suddenly alert, he turned to Papyrus - who had sat down beside him.

_< …hold up. shouldn’t you be resting?  >_

Papyrus shook his head.

 _< I’M FINE! BESIDES - I HAD TO MAKE SURE YOU WEREN’T WANDERING OFF, AGAIN!  >_ He added, pointedly. _< …THAT REALLY HASN’T BEEN LEADING TO THE BEST OF TIMES, LATELY.  >_

At this, Sans’ eye sockets grew dim.

_< … fair enough.  >_

Papyrus’ stern expression vanished, as Sans stared hard at his brother’s injury.

Faint wisps of orange magic sizzled lightly around the crack in his skull. Sans realised that Papyrus  must had eaten enough to recover his stamina  Most of the bone mass had been restored, but cracks and chips marred its surface - and Sans doubted Papyrus could see out of that eye socket.

Even if Undyne got her energy back to heal Papyrus properly, Sans realised that some of those cracks would probably be there for good.

 _< …i’m not going anywhere, bro.  > _He said at last. _< i mean it, this time.  >_

Papyrus blinked.

 _< OH. WELL…  >_ He nodded. _< GOOD.  >_

Sans turned away to look at the facility, once more. A small movement out of the corner of his eye told him that Papyrus had followed his gaze.

The faint glow of blue circuitry patterned the steel walls that reached upwards from the abyss. It blended into the dim, blue lighting of the CORE’S upper exterior - the entrance currently sealed shut by Alphys’ efforts. The normally bright display remained dim from the lack of power, but the glow still pierced through the eerie, empty blackness.

The two Blasters stared at the facility for a moment, in silence. 

Sans didn't know what it was, then. The facility - the events that had preceded this - or even Papyrus, sitting there beside him, uncharacteristically quiet. 

But Sans suddenly found himself feeling very small.

 

_< i’m... sorry, bro.  >_

 

The words left Sans' jaws almost subconsciously. He didn't know what else to say, not even when Papyrus spun to face him, startled.

He found himself unable to look back at his brother.

 _< ...W... WHAT ABOUT?  > _Papyrus asked, incredulously - and a bitter chuckle shook Sans’ frame (though it sounded more like a chuff).

 _< not sure where to start.  > _He said, finally finding to strength look back at Papyrus. _ < i think _**_that_** _list is longer than my tab. >_

There was a pause. Sans watched his brother's expression carefully as he broke his gaze with a frown, his eye darting a bit in thought. 

 _< THAT’S A LOT TO BE SORRY FOR.  > _Papyrus remarked, blinking slowly. He looked over the wooden railing, eyebrows raised.  _< ...YOUR TAB REACHES ALL THE WAY DOWN THERE, I BET.  > _

(Sans snorted, despite the ache in his sternum.)

Papyrus withdrew from the railing, turning back to face him with a firm look.

_< BUT I DON'T THINK THAT'S RIGHT.  > _

 Sans blinked. His brother's voice seemed stern. 

_< ...what do you mean?  >_

In spite of his tone, Papyrus’ tail curled around his own body. He glanced down at his claws.

 _< … I DON’T THINK YOU HAVE THAT MUCH TO APOLOGISE FOR.  >_ He clarified.

He looked back up at Sans once more, his expression softening.

_< I DON’T THINK IT COULD POSSIBLY BE  **ALL** YOUR FAULT. SO…  > _

He lowered his skull, raising a claw to brush at his damaged eye socket a little.

 _< I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY THAT AGAIN, OKAY?  > _His words emerged as a small growl.

Sans blinked, the light returning to his eye sockets.

_…Oh._

_< … you remember that, huh?  > _He said, cringing at the image of his brother’s shards scattered around him.

 _< OF COURSE I DO! IT HAPPENED AN HOUR AGO!  > _Papyrus shot back, his wariness dissolving. _< BESIDES, I REMEMBER EVERYTHING! EVEN THE TIMES WHEN I _**_DON’T_** _REMEMBER ANYTHING! >_

He paused, frowning. _ < REMEMBER? >_

Sans glanced aside.

_< yeah…  >_

Whether he was tired, or overwhelmed, he didn’t know. But his bones began to feel heavy, again - and the beast slowly lowered himself back down to the wooden floor.

Sans found himself staring at the CORE facility again - looking for any signs of movement.

Listening for any sign of Gaster.

 _< … you know, it’s weird.  >_ He said, suddenly.

Papyrus looked over at him, blinking. _< WHAT IS?  >_

Sans shook his head. _< just us, sitting and talking like this.  > _He said, blinking. < _never really, uh… settled down and had a chat in this form, before. >_

His eye sockets grew half-lidded. _< …keep feeling like i should be running from something. like i shouldn't be this... still.  >_

There was a pause.

 _< … ARE YOU STILL NERVOUS,_ _BROTHER? >_

Sans turned his head to face Papyrus, who was tilting his head thoughtfully.

The older skeleton was silent a moment. Routine had led to him dodging so many little questions, and he nearly found himself shrugging off this one, too.  It wasn’t every day he had to consider letting his game face slip - especially in front of his brother.

Not like he had much to hide, anymore.

 _< i know it doesn’t sound all that claws-ible but… yeah. a little.  > _Sans admitted.

Papyrus seemed to scowl at the pun, but he soon perked back up, blinking.

 _< ONLY A LITTLE, HUH?  > _ He said, thoughtfully. _< …THAT’S DEFINITELY AN IMPROVEMENT THEN!!  >_

Sans rose a brow in confusion. Then, he blinked, the words clicking in his head.

_< …oh.  >_

He shook his head. _< heh. right. you meant…  >_

Papyrus nodded. _< THE MUTAGEN.  > _His tail fell into a slow wag. _< YOU SEEM A LOT MORE LIKE YOU, NOW!  >_

He suddenly frowned. _< …JUST EVEN MORE GROWLY AND BIG-BONED THAN USUAL.  >_

 _That_ finally earned a genuine chuckle from Sans.

_< heh. yeah.  >_

They were silent a moment. Sans looked down at his claws, fidgeting with his digits a little.

His expression became stoic, once more.

 _< still me, huh?  > _He muttered. Then, he looked over to his brother, raising a brow. _ < … just like you’re still you, i see. >_

Papyrus shrugged. _< I MEAN, WHO ELSE WOULD WE BE?  >_

Sans stared down at his claws again. It was a strange feeling, as he tried to picture them as his hands, once more. Most of the bones were still there - just differently shaped and arranged.

Still there. Still him…

… and Sans was still trying to get his skull around what had exactly _happened,_ back in the halls of the CORE.

 _< ...didn’t attack anyone.  > _He muttered. _< …not even you. not like last time.  >_

Papyrus seemed to sober a little at this. Then, he blinked.

 _< …YOU _ **_DID_ ** _ATTACK GASTER. >_

Sans shrugged.

_< eh. he doesn’t count.  >_

Heck, the fact that the doctor had been right _there_ hadn’t changed his actions in the slightest. Even with the pressure of multiple commanding hands on his forehead, Sans remembered being... not at ease but certainly not frightened.

Like the previous times he’d lost control, he’d had no information to go by except his senses. There’d been no way of knowing if he was safe or not.

And that had generally been enough to make him panic, and lash out.

Sans lowered his head back onto his claws, frowning.

It wasn't all solved. He'd still felt the tug of instincts more influential than what he was used to. He knew the mutagen could still affect him, in body and mind.

But he no longer felt as if he was at its mercy. He’d still been stunned by Gaster’s direct influence - but the doctor was attempting to influence a mind that no longer sought the security he’d offered.

Sans didn’t know what was more surprising. The fact that he’d found some holes in the way the mutagen worked…

…or the fact that Papyrus had figured it out first.

He shook his head. His brother's ability to look at things from a very different angle had always been handy, in one way or another.

Sans turned to his brother to ask about the matter - but he found himself pushing aside the thought, for now.

Papyrus currently seemed to be staring into space.

_< … you doing okay, bro?  >_

The Blaster blinked, a little startled at the question. _< W-WHAT? WHY DO YOU ASK?  >_

Sans raised a brow. _< well… i’m not the only one who’s been a little weighed down, lately.  >_

Papyrus snorted. Then he looked away.

 _< I’M JUST FINE, SANS. YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ME.  > _He shook his head. _< I’M STILL A LITTLE DIZZY, BUT THE FLOOR APPEARS TO HAVE STOPPED MOVING, FOR NOW.  >_

Sans nodded. _< glad to hear, on that front, bro. but that’s not what i meant.  >_

Papyrus stilled at that. The older of the beasts stared harder at him.

 _< maybe i’ve had a lot on my plate - but i’m pretty sure you haven’t been having the best of times, either.  > _He said, shrugging. _ < how’re you travelling, pap? >_

His brother raised a brow. _< ON FOUR LEGS, I GUESS.  >_

There was a brief pause. Realization seemed to strike Papyrus, and he threw his head back, groaning loudly.

 _< IT KEEPS _ **_HAPPENING!_ ** _ >_

A beastly grin cracked Sans' features, in spite of the evasion.

_< hey... nice one, pap.  >_

_< IT'S **NOT**  NICE! >_ Papyrus groaned. _ <THIS IS YOUR FAULT! I'VE BEEN MAKING THEM NON-STOP SINCE YOU WERE AWAY! > _

His forehead butted gently against the wooden railing. _< AND WHEN YOU CAME BACK, YOU WEREN’T MAKING ANY HORRIBLE JOKES AT ALL!! SO NOW I’VE CLEARLY BEEN FORCED TO TAKE UP THE MANTLE!!  >_

At this, Sans' grin faltered. 

_< uh, pap?  >_

His brother withdrew from the railing, growling. _< THANKFULLY, NOBODY’S EVEN UNDERSTOOD THEM - SO MY COOL IMAGE IS DEFINITELY STILL PRESERVED!!  >_ He shook his head, his growling growing louder. _ < THOUGH **NOW** I DON’T KNOW WHETHER TO BE FRUSTRATED OR RELIEVED! I JUST -  >_

_< papyrus.  >_

His face serious now, Sans watched as his brother seemed to wilt on the spot. 

_< I JUST…  >_

The sternness left his tone. He suddenly grew still, and Sans noticed Papyrus was now staring up at the CORE facility.

The larger beast's tail slowly curled around his own body.

 _< … I MISS MY VOICE.  >  _He said, suddenly.

Sans was quiet. Papyrus suddenly seemed very tired, his normally proud posture lowered into a heavy slouch - as if his head was too heavy for him to lift.

 _< …I MISS BEING UNDERSTOOD BY EVERYONE. I MISS TALKING TO UNDYNE, AND FRISK.  > _Papyrus continued, softly. _ < I MISS MY BATTLE BODY, TOO. I EVEN MISS USING MY BONES, AND MY BLUE ATTACK. >_

He let out a low whine. _< …I DEFINITELY MISS MY HANDS. THEY WERE GOOD FOR... FOR MAKING PUZZLES. AND MAKING MY WONDERFUL SPAGHETTI. AND I DON’T KNOW IF I CAN COOK **ANYTHING** WITH CLAWS LIKE THESE, AND…  >_

He turned back to his brother, a strangely somber look on his features.

_< …I REALLY DO MISS SO MANY THINGS, SANS.  >_

The older skeleton stared back, his eyesockets going dim. He wasn’t comfortable in this form either, after all.

 _< … i know, bro.  >_ He said, quietly. _< ...i’m sorry.  >_

There was a pause. Papyrus looked down at his claws, again, examining them quietly. Sans found himself turning away.

A deep sigh escaped him.

 _< i, uh… didn’t want you to deal with any of this, you know?  > _He said, with a shrug.

_< I KNOW.  >_

Sans turned back to him, a little startled.

_< you know?  >_

Papyrus’ tail uncurled from his body.

 _< WELL… I CAN’T THINK OF ANOTHER REASON FOR WHY YOU WOULDN’T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT.  > _He said, shrugging. _< YOU NEVER LOOKED LIKE YOU ENJOYED KEEPING THINGS TO YOURSELF.  >_

Sans blinked as Papyrus looked at him, a glimmer of nervousness appearing in his features, before he suddenly looked away.

 _< YOU KNOW, IT'S FUNNY. I WAS HOPING I COULD ACTUALLY HELP YOU OUT, THIS TIME.  > _He said, simply.

There was a pause.

 _< '…this time?'  > _Sans echoed, quietly.

Papyrus' brow creased in thought.

 _< …THERE WAS ALWAYS SOMETHING WRONG.  >_ He said, blinking. _< EVEN BEFORE GASTER ARRIVED THAT MORNING.  >_

Sans was silent.

Papyrus looked down, digging a claw into the grooves of the wooden panels. _< I NEVER KNEW _**_WHAT,_** _EXACTLY. BUT I ALSO KNEW YOU DIDN’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT. I DIDN’T WANT TO MAKE YOU UPSET. >_

Sans blinked. _ < … hey, c'mon. since when did you have to worry about that? >_ He asked, blinking. _< you know i got a thick hide, bro, and i don’t even have skin.  > _

Papyrus shook his head, ceasing scratching the wood panels.

_< …NOT WHEN I FOUND YOU IN THE WOODS.  >_

At that, Sans’ eye sockets went black. Papyrus' gaze remained fixed on the floor.

 _< I’D NEVER SEEN YOU LIKE THAT, BEFORE.  > _He said, quietly. _ < YOU WERE SO... UNLIKE YOU. I WAS AFRAID I’D JUST MAKE YOU SAD AGAIN IF I SPOKE ABOUT IT. SO I DIDN’T. >_

He frowned. _ < …AND EVEN THOUGH YOU GOT BETTER, THERE WERE SO MANY TIMES I KNEW SOMETHING WASN’T RIGHT. AND I DID ASK. BUT I DIDN'T PRY. I DIDN’T WANT TO MAKE THINGS WORSE. >_

He looked down. _< …SO, I NEVER REALLY KNEW WHAT TO ASK YOU. I JUST TRIED TO DO WHAT I THOUGHT WOULD HELP. LIKE GETTING YOU BACK ON TRACK. OR EVEN MAKING YOU TIDY UP YOUR ROOM!  >_

There was a silence. Sans stared hard at Papyrus.

 _< …WHEN GASTER APPEARED AND TOOK YOU AWAY, IT WAS DIFFERENT.  > _Papyrus looked back up at the CORE, as if to scrutinise it. _ < THE PROBLEM WAS RIGHT THERE! YOU WERE IN DANGER - VISIBLE DANGER! SO IT WAS MY DUTY TO GET YOU OUT OF IT!! >_

He sat up straight. _< IT WAS INCREDIBLY ALARMING, AND FRIGHTENING - BUT I COULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! I COULD HELP!!  >_

Papyrus faltered a little. _< I JUST RAN STRAIGHT INTO GASTER. I WAS HOPING I COULD SAVE YOU, THEN AND THERE. BOOM! PROBLEM SOLVED!  >_

Sans’ tail twitched, as Papyrus gave a heavy sigh.

_< BUT THEN SUDDENLY, I WAS IN DANGER, TOO. AND… AND NOW I’M STUCK LIKE THIS.  >_

His eye sockets grew half-lidded.

_< I DIDN’T THINK THINGS THROUGH. AND… I FEAR I MIGHT HAVE MADE THINGS EVEN WORSE. I FEAR I MAY HAVE -  >_

 

 _<   _ **_P a p y r u s ._ ** _ >_

 

The word wasn’t stern, or angry. When the startled Papyrus turned to face Sans, the older beast’s eye sockets were dimmed, his gaze fixed on the wooden floor.

 _< … you mean that?  > _He said, softly.  _< you seriously mean that, right now?  this isn't the mutagen talking, or...  >_

Sans trailed off, the memory of his partially-changed brother returning to mind. All the way back in Hotland, soon after Sans had been rescued. The trembling skeleton, having chased after him, insisting on helping him. The confrontation in Muffet's Lair.

He sighed.

No, he realised. It hadn't _just_ been the mutagen talking, back then. Maybe the mutagen was what had caused Papyrus to panic. Maybe it was what had caused Papyrus to give into his fear. 

But it hadn't _created_  this particular fear.

Papyrus stared back at him. Sans sat back up on his haunches, doing his best to look at him in the eye.

He remembered being smaller. He remembered still having the use of his arms, and desperately hugging Papyrus’ muzzle, surrounded by white shards. He remembered trembling violently under the weight of the situation.

Wasn’t exactly his favourite memory, but…

_< i meant what i said back there, you know?  >_

The light returned to Sans’ eye sockets. _< you’ve done_ ** _enough._** _you always have. >_

Papyrus blinked, startled.

 _< level with me, bro - and i mean it, you’re too tall.  > _Humourlessly, Papyrus lowered his head to face Sans directly, who frowned. _ < …you _**_really_** _think i’d be here talking to you now if you hadn’t intervened, back there? >_

There was a pause, as Sans glanced aside. It was a little hard to sort out his own thoughts right now, mutagen or no.

 _< look… it’s complicated, bro. nobody asked for what the doc did. and maybe you _ **_didn’t_ ** _think things through. i know_ **_i_ ** _didn’t. >_

His eye sockets grew half-lidded.

_< i know that me being a numbskull was part of what started this whole mess in the first place.  >_

Sans frowned, facing the other Blaster once more. _< but, uh… if the great papyrus thinks that his lazy brother shouldn’t be responsible for this whole mess, well -  > _He shrugged. _< \- he can’t go ahead and take credit for the whole thing, himself.  >_

A grin appeared on his features. _ < talk about self-centred, bro. >_

There was a pause. Despite everything, Papyrus shook with quiet laughter.

_< …HAVE YOU EVEN MET ME, BROTHER?  > _

The other beast drew back, shrugging.

_< yeah. but for what it's worth, i still think you're a cool guy.  >_

Papyrus blinked, staring back at Sans.

  _< and i don’t know what i would’ve done without such a cool guy looking out for me.  > _He added, with a shrug.

There was a silence. Papyrus stared at him a moment, before breaking his gaze.

Sans noticed that he seemed to be staring into space, his eye socket starting to water. His shoulders sank.

 _< …i should have told you all this sooner, bro.  >_ He said, quietly.

Slowly, a sly grin crept across his features.

_< …’specially if i knew you were just gonna bawl like a baby bones.  >_

Papyrus suddenly snapped to attention. His watery eye socket grew wide and offended.

 _< I... **DO NOT**  CRY._ _ > _He lowered his head to wipe his remaining eye socket. _< THIS ISN'T CRYING! MY FACE IS… SIMPLY LEAKING!! IT’S ANOTHER HORRIBLE SIDE EFFECT OF THIS MUTAGEN, I’M SURE!  >_

Despite everything, Sans found himself chuckling.

_< hey, c’mon, buddy. it’s okay to be emotional.  >_

Papyrus wiped at his features again, shaking his head. _< IT'S JUST... I-I JUST REALLY MISS HAVING THUMBS, RIGHT NOW!  >_

 _< you got dewclaws.  >_ Sans said, with a shrug.

 _< THEY DON’T _**_DEW_** _ANYTHING!!! >_ Papyrus roared, his googly-eyed expression appearing on his features.

There was a sudden, muffled shout from within the Resort.

Startled, both Blasters turned their heads to look down the hall. Initially concerned that the small group in the Resort had misinterpreted Papyrus’ roar, Sans relaxed upon hearing the conversational tones resume.

 _< …THAT SOUNDED LIKE UNDYNE.  >_ Papyrus said, blinking.

Sans turned away, tension fading from his shoulders.

 _< …guess they hit an interesting part.  >_ He muttered, raising an eyebrow.

Right. _That_ little explanation was still going on. And…

He blinked, suddenly turning to Papyrus.

_< hey, you’re missing out on the whole story, too.  >_

His brother tensed, gaze darting about.

_< I-I KNOW A LOT ALREADY!  >_

Sans raised an eyebrow. _< …might be some gaps here and there.  >_

There was a sudden silence. Papyrus’ head lowered a little under its weight, looking hesitant.

 _< … I WAS HOPING TO HEAR IT FROM YOU.  > _He said, carefully. _< IF THAT’S OKAY.  >_

There was a pause.

Sans looked at him, raising an eyebrow. 

_< … definitely not in the mood to talk about it, that’s for sure.  >_

There was a pause. 

Sans felt a familiar kind of air, one that he was tempted to pursue. He knew this situation. He knew this security.

He watched Papyrus draw back, and Sans felt his resolve slip away.

 _< I SORT OF FIGURED.  > _His brother said, a sad smile managing to form on his muzzle. _ < I’M SORRY. >_

There was a pause, as Papyrus looked away, as if deep in thought.

Sans slowly lowered himself to the ground, in an attempt to get comfortable.

He drew in a breath.

 

 _< … it was about twelve years ago.  >_ 

 

Papyrus suddenly spun to him, startled.

 _< i was interning for the royal science team, like al said.  >_ Sans continued. _< gaster was the head honcho, as you’ve figured out.  >_

Papyrus stared at him, eye socket wide.

_< …I THOUGHT YOU SAID -  >_

_< i did.  >_ Sans said, eyes flicking to him. _< so you better listen good, bro. i don’t like this story enough to want to repeat it.  >_

After a brief pause, Papyrus settled down next to him, scooting his claws forward until his forelegs lay comfortably before him.

Sans’ head sank onto his claws. He was already feeling exhausted at the prospect of talking about this particular topic. He wasn’t quite sure how to phrase it, or how to build on what he’d already said. This wasn’t a regular conversation with his brother, after all.

He blinked, his thoughts suddenly catching onto a single phrase.

… ‘Story,’ huh?

Sans glanced around.

…Well, the dim lighting did remind him a little of Papyrus’ room.

And his brother was looking at him attentively, not too unlike the way he did before a bedtime story.

 

 

… Somehow, that was enough to get the words flowing in his head.

 

 

Taking a deep breath, he began to speak.

 

 

 


	26. A Story (Intermission)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	27. A Breach

Alphys fell silent.

 

The MTT Resort seemed gloomier than normal. The distant, quiet snores of the Blasters outside told Undyne exactly where the skeleton brothers were, despite being out of sight. But the world around her seemed to fade as her gaze tunnelled on on the twelve-year-old footage.

She watched as a smaller version of the Blaster sleeping outside staggered back, alone in the CORE control room. She watched as he charged off down the hall, pursued by tendrils of CORE energy bursting from the main chamber.

She watched as he vanished into one of the rips of spacetime.

The tendrils dissolved on the spot. The CORE, churning with violet energy, seemed to slowly calm. 

The only sound was the low crackling of the CORE itself. 

Frisk drew in a shaking breath, as Alphys quietly paused the footage. She gripped the end of the power cord, her electric-based magic flickering in the pale light. 

“That’s… that’s what happened.” She concluded, her voice raspy and exhausted.

Alphys had brought the security monitor she’d found in the small room along with her - as well as a fair amount of tapes. She’d dismissed them into her inventory before she’d left the security records room to investigate the fight with Gaster.

Her voice had been low and steady throughout the entire explanation. She hadn’t stuttered much at all - though the captain understood this as a concern. 

Alphys never stuttered when she was depressed.

The footage, grainy and flickering through the gloom, had illustrated a lot of the scientist’s explanation. On the screen, it was displayed as a grid of monitors - each square displaying a different camera feed within the facility. The upper and mid rows came through clearly - while the bottom ones were prone to interference and malfunction. 

“… I don’t understand.” 

Frisk was sitting on their knees, clutching at the lower part of their shorts. They were sitting on Papyrus' large and tattered scarf, left behind by the skeleton as he'd gone to check on Sans. Undyne slowly turned to them, exhaustion dulling her rage.

“There’s nothing _to_ get.” She growled.

What else could she say? She’d been mad at Sans throughout this whole ordeal. She _still_ was.

But now, she was particularly enraged at the fact that she couldn’t kill Gaster no matter how many spears she embedded in him.

“He’s a scumbag. We already knew that.” Her face twisted into a snarl. “Now we know he’s an even _bigger_ scumbag. With _dust_ on his hands.”

Damn it. 

No freaking wonder Sans had turned into a bony maraca. No wonder he’d been so infuriatingly quiet.

“Why the _hell_ didn’t he tell anybody?!” She snarled, regardless.

Alphys remained silent, staring intensely at the continuing footage. The light reflected upon her glasses, giving her focused expression a touch of eerie.

“… nobody would have believed him.” She said, lowly.

Undyne turned to her.

“What do you mean?”

The scientist bowed her head, somber eyes coming into view.

“Look. This next part.”

The scientist clutched at her sleeve, as the footage before her regained motion. Undyne spun to see the familiar sight of four monsters donned in thick, black armour dashing down the main hall of the CORE facility.

“No magic!” Came the cry. “There’s been a CORE breach!”

A Sir Whimsalot fluttered after them, quickly taking the lead of the squad. He was the first to reach the CORE control room.

“It must have been an overload.” He whispered, softly. 

“There’s scorch marks all over the halls.” One of the black-clad knights, a Knight Night, sauntered forward with a yawn. “Why don’t we have anyone stationed here?”

There was a pause - both for the footage and its viewers.

“We have a crew here, don’t we?” Sir Whimsalot asked, startled. “We can’t leave the CORE unattended, right?”

The group was silent. Undyne grew tense.

 _“What the hell?”_ She leaned in. The Royal Guard would _have_ to have had knowledge of all other branches of the kingdom - service monsters, civilians, even scientists! How could they have not known about the science crew? They’d been right _there -_

 

_Erased from existence._

 

The meaning of that phrase suddenly began to sink in to the captain. She sat back, as the small troop on the screen began to converse in mounting confusion. 

“…Nobody remembered them.” Alphys said, quietly. “Nobody remembered Gaster… nobody remembered Sprig, Owel, Val or Reno. It was like they’d… never even existed.”

Undyne stared at the footage, the world around her fading.

“… there had to have been _something_ they left behind.” She said, her voice low. 

Alphys fidgeted with her claws. “I-I-I’m not sure. A… a lot of things that… featured their names and visual appearances… seem to have actually disappeared, or faded from this reality.”

Frisk held up the transparent cassette tape, still in their grasp.

“… like this?” 

“E-Exactly!” Alphys frowned. “B-but… _constructs…_ like the CORE - a-a-and _products_ … like formulas and writings…they seem to be intact.”

She looked down. “M-mostly, at least. Whatever the case… nobody remembered the scientist crew.”

Her shoulders slumped. 

“Nobody but Sans.”

There was a silence.

"Why just him?" Undyne asked, frowning.

Alphys tapped at her glasses. "I-I'm not sure, but... I think it's got something to do with his exposure to the CORE." Her claw lowered to her side. "At least that's my theory."

“… He couldn’t have been alone.” Frisk said, quietly. “He must have tried to tell someone… right? He could have maybe… gotten some stuff from the CORE as proof, right?”

“Yeah. If he actually _wanted_ to bring attention to it.”

Undyne felt the room’s attention on her. She plucked a thread out of the plush carpet.

“He shut up like a clam all this time.” She muttered. “If it wasn’t for you, Al, we never would’ve known a damn thing. We haven’t had any clear info up until now, ‘cause of him.”

Frisk looked up at Undyne, startled.

“You _can’t_ be mad at him about this…” They said. “He couldn’t help it! He had the mutagen, a-and it’s not like he could bring it up so easily - ”

 _“Like HELL he’d wanna bring it up!! You think I don’t get that?!”_ The captain roared. 

Frisk’s expression grew stony, and Undyne felt queasy from exhaustion and rage.

"I'm mad that didn't make it any easier for us." She snarled. “I’m _especially_ mad at that bastard doctor for… for ALL of this!!!"

She threw her hands up in the air. "I’m mad at Papyrus for freaking not doing what he was _told_ and…”

Undyne ran her hand over her skull.

“… dammit.” She snarled. “I’m mad that I couldn’t protect my friends, or that every single time we’ve tried to put an _end_ to all this - it just freaking falls apart!!!”

How else could she put it? She wanted to focus her blame on a single thing, charge ahead with a solid plan.

She wanted to beat up Gaster, but he couldn’t be beaten. She wanted to tell off Sans, but he’d been through more than enough hell. She wanted to be mad at herself, but they already had a self-depreciating sack of bones. 

She wanted to punch something. She wanted to keep driving forward. But she was exhausted. And slow. Nothing seemed to be working.

She hated it.

“Undyne…” Alphys said, softly.

A soft, light pat landed on the side of the captain’s arm. 

Blinking, the captain turned to see Frisk standing next to her in a combative stance, one fist resting on her scaly bicep.

Undyne felt the corner of her mouth twitch.

“… and now I’m mad at _you_ for givin’ me an even _wimpier_ punch than usual.” She muttered, smirking bitterly.

The human withdrew, shaking out their hand. “…Sorry. I’m just really tired.”

They dragged their foot back to a regular standing position beneath them.

“I think you’re really tired, too.” They said, simply. 

Undyne raised an eyebrow. "What, you think I'm just grumpy 'cause I'm sleepy?"

“W-well, a little.”

A clawed hand rested on Undyne’s other arm. She turned to face Alphys, who was smiling timidly back at her.

“Y-you’ve been fighting a long time. Making sure… making sure nothing irreversibly bad happened to anybody.” She glanced down. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help carry the slack that m-much back there, but… it sounds like you’ve been doing a lot of fighting and protecting on your own.”

Undyne blinked, hearing Frisk approach from her side.

“Yeah. If it wasn’t for you, I…” They hesitated. “I think we would have lost Sans and Papyrus.” 

Frisk’s voice was thick. When the captain turned back to the child, however, their expression was set into stoniness.

Undyne frowned. She pulled Frisk forward by the shoulder, then placed a hand on their head.

There was a pause.

Frisk’s fairly tidy hair suddenly became matted at the sheer velocity of Undyne’s palm rubbing their scalp in affection. The human’s features were scrunched up in mild pain from the force of her friendship, and they blinked woozily when the captain’s hand finally lifted.

“You try that sappy, cheesy stuff on me again and I’ll give you a hard-earned friendship punch.” She said, feeling significantly lighter. Frisk smiled back, trying in vain to restore the neatness of their hair. 

Yeesh. Morale. Undyne usually had anime for that - but she had to make do with what she had. 

And what she had wasn’t bad at all.

Alphys was giggling at the sight of Frisk with messed-up hair. Then, her smile turned into a red-faced blush of surprise as Undyne yanked her into a hug.

“Hah! What am I doing, freaking out?” Undyne grinned at her. “With you with us here too, Al, I’m sure stuff’s gonna start fallin’ into place!!!”

Frisk covered their mouth, a massive grin developing beneath their hands. The scientist covered her face, her yellow scales a deep red.

“U-Undyne…”

Then, with a start, she removed her claws from her face, wide-eyed.

“W-wait!”

Hurriedly pecking Undyne lightly on her nose (and leaving the captain a little red-faced herself), the scientist scrambled out of her grasp and back to the laptop setup. The footage of the guards had continued on fairly unremarkably, and she ejected the tape from the console.

“Th-there’s… one more thing.”

Placing it aside, Alphys summoned one more tape - and Undyne blinked, noting that it didn’t appear at all transparent. It was a perfectly regular cassette.

When she inserted it, the footage of the facility was static. The halls were empty and still. The only movement present was the CORE energy in the central chamber.

It seemed like a much lonelier place.

Alphys fast-forwarded through the footage - the speed at 30x. The image of the empty hall did not change for good chunk of the tape.

And then, a spark of blue light caught Undyne’s eye in the hallway camera. Alphys hurriedly hit the ‘play’ button.

A significantly older Sans stood alone in the middle of the hall, rubbing his eye socket in pain.

“He’s back…” Frisk breathed.

Undyne’s eyebrows pressed together in the middle. 

“Why the heck would he come back to the CORE?” She muttered.

Alphys reached over to the screen, pointing at the time stamp in the corner of the footage.

“Th-this is only about a couple of years ago.” She said, firmly. “…He hasn’t set foot in this place for ten years…”

Sure enough, Undyne noted that the Sans standing in the footage was wearing his signature blue sweater. It looked cleaner - significantly less faded ketchup stains on it. 

He deactivated his eye socket, drawing in a deep breath. Then, he turned to face the CORE chamber.

Undyne couldn’t see his face from that angle. But when he turned back around to begin a slow meander down the hall, his eye sockets were black - his now-familiar grin plastered upon his face.

He suddenly vanished into thin air. Undyne’s gaze shot briefly to the timestamp, just in case the footage had skipped. But there was a brief flash of blue in another small screen in the grid of camera feeds.

“What’s he doin’ now?” The captain asked, watching as Sans teleported from camera to camera within the facility.

“I-I’m not sure.” Alphys said, quietly. “I’m… not sure it has anything to do with what happened with Gaster.”

The trio watched as Sans made his way down the main facility hall, glancing around the area, thoughtfully.

His gaze landed on the closed door of Gaster’s office, and he turned away, quickening his pace.

He vanished again, and Frisk squinted, looking around the monitors for any sign of the skeleton. 

“Did he leave?” They asked.

Their question was answered by one of the darkened rooms on the bottom row of the camera grid suddenly lighting up with blue and yellow.

It settled into Sans’ natural blue. The dust particles drifted visibly in the skeleton’s path as he looked up, revealing his surroundings as a tall, but narrow room.

The walls were lined with file cabinets.

He summoned a few magical bones (four in total) - arranging them in a stair-like formation up towards one of the cabinet drawers to the right. He stepped upwards, his balance slightly off as he progressed upwards.

Undyne blinked. He wasn’t falling on his face, but he seemed almost laughably unpracticed compared to his current self.

Reaching the top of his steps, Sans tugged experimentally on the drawer handle, and it didn’t budge. 

Shrugging, he waved his hand, bringing the lowermost bone in the step formation upwards, by his side. He brought his hand down in one fluid motion, and the bone followed suit - catching on the drawer handle and ripping it - and the front of the drawer itself - clean off. 

Undyne squinted hard. Frisk leaned forward, pulling up a large section of Papyrus' scarf from the ground and wrapping it around themselves.

“… there’s a lot of papers in there.” They observed, quietly.

The contents of the cabinet was nothing but folders and files. Sans swept a few of the papers aside, the dust so thick that it registered through the graininess of the camera feed. Blinking, he yanked out several rolled up blueprints.

He shoved most of them below his arm, unrolling one to hold before him. Undyne couldn’t quite make out any details on the paper in the footage, but she felt the slightest bit uneasy.

“Any idea what that room is, Alph?” She found herself asking, suddenly.

The scientist frowned. “I-It’s hard to be sure. It’s in one of the lowest parts of the facility - where the camera feed was at its worst.” She adjusted her glasses, peering closer. “Th-the lighting doesn’t help much, either… but I want to say it’s a records room. O-or even a place where documents were stored. Private documents.”

Alphys drew back, the glare of the screen reflected on her glasses.

“…the doctor seems like someone who’d have a lot of secrets.” She said, her voice quiet.

Undyne’s gaze remained fixed on her for a moment, before a small flash out of the corner of her eye suddenly caught her attention. She spun back to the footage.

“The CORE…”

Frisk had scooted back, as the camera feed to the CORE chamber displayed the churning ball of energy suddenly light up in a mix of blue, purple and orange. It was churning violently, humming with electricity.

Alphys clasped her claws together.

“I-It’s just a bit of instability.” She said, with a nod. “Nothing _serious_ , b-but…”

A loud, thunderous crack sounded. The audio was distorted by its sheer volume, and Undyne caught a movement from the cabinet room camera feed.

The blueprints had fallen to the floor, the bones dismissed. Sans dropped to the tiled floor, one hand out to help brace the impact. His remaining hand was grasping at his eye.

A quick gesture to the left, and something large materialised in the air beside him.

Frisk scooted back a little further.

Floating beside Sans was a Gaster Blaster. Its blank, white gaze illuminated the room - its features twisted into a snarl, its jaws crackling with white energy - entirely at the ready.

Undyne would have laughed, if she wasn’t feeling a little sick. 

The bonehead had been startled by the noise.

Sans had seemed to find it humorous, at least. When both silence and realisation had reached him, he stood up straight - a low, quiet chuckle sounding.

He then placed a hand to the Blaster’s side. It stilled, looking at him, the snarl leaving its features. It appeared calmed.

 _“easy, buddy.”_ Sans said, quietly. _“nothing to get rattled up about.”_

After petting it a couple of times, he stepped back. With a wave of his hand, it vanished - dismissed back into his inventory.

“… Considering everything that’s happened, I’m surprised he can still _look_ at one of those things.” Undyne said, her tone low.

Alphys sighed. “Me, too.” She looked at the video bar, and Undyne noticed that the footage was nearing the end.

Alphys’ shoulders slumped. “I-I guess he started moving on…”

The captain scooted a little closer to the scientist, as the trio watched Sans gather up the fallen blueprints. He dismissed them all into his inventory with a sigh, placing both hands in his jacket pockets.

Then, he froze.

Undyne, Alphys and Frisk all flinched as a single, glowing blue iris shot up to look directly at them.

Sans had noticed the camera.

After a pause, his eye sockets went dim. One lit up in its telltale blue and yellow, and he vanished from sight.

Sans reappeared in the security records room, a grimace on his features as he glanced up at the camera, once more.

At first, the skeleton seemed at a loss. Then, that familiar, practiced grin appeared on his features.

 _“sorry.”_ He said, quietly.

He reached over and tapped a button on the security console.

One by one, each monitor on the grid switched off. Undyne watched as Sans turned away from the camera, his smile dropping as the footage went entirely dark.

 

 

* * *

  

 

The beast shivered.

The wind groaned in the chasm before him, stirring him from slumber. 

_Cold…_

He almost felt a protest within his SOUL. Something primal, and simple. It appealed, right now.

He didn’t want to wake. Tired.

 

_He was so tired…_

 

…

 

Something else within him protested.

 

He suddenly held fast to his consciousness, taking in a deep breath. Words rose in his subconscious, and he jumped on each one with practiced focus.

Think, he told himself. He needed to start thinking, again. He needed to focus.

He lightly shook his head. The cobwebs that both sleep and the mutagen had placed within his mind began to lift. 

Sans sighed, lifting his head from his claws with a frown. The need to sleep dissipated, and the Blaster's nature receded away again, for the time being.

He was uneasy at how quickly it had seeped into his consciousness during his slumber. 

If his last encounter with Gaster indicated anything, Sans knew he wouldn’t be dangerous to the people he cared about. Even if he’d slipped into his more ‘feral’ state. 

He glanced down at the floor.

Though with that said, he also didn’t like the idea of losing control, period.

He stayed with that thought for a moment. Then, blinking slowly, he took in his surroundings.

He was still on the balcony of the MTT Resort. He could feel his brother’s weight on him. He could hear Papyrus’ quiet, rhythmic snore.

(Sans smirked. That was a rare sound.)

Carefully, he looked over his shoulderblade. 

Papyrus’ beastly visage looked peaceful. A far cry from the sight he’d seen when the group had chosen to rest at Alphys’ lab, last night. Curled up at the end of the collapsible bed, his semi-transformed brother hadn’t even looked comfortable in his own bones.

Sans frowned, slightly, at the sight of the dried tear stains down Papyrus’ snout.

The conversation the duo had had a couple of hours earlier hadn’t been exactly been pleasant.

At first, he’d found himself with some shade of regret, some underlying feeling of wishing he hadn’t said a word. 

Having the familiarity of knowing that at least his brother was happy or oblivious, that he didn’t need to worry. 

Having the _control_ of what information could hurt his brother and what couldn’t.

Sans snorted.

But whether he liked it or not, Papyrus at the front lines of the whole thing now, and that frightened him a little.

He shifted a little beneath his brother, doing his best not to disturb him. Lying atop the older skeleton hadn’t seemed like the most comfortable of options for either of them. Yet, it was somewhat calming. Reassuring to know exactly where his brother was, in the wake of everything that had happened.

The skeleton had claimed that he was taking a leaf from Greater Dog’s book - sometimes comfort meant leaning on top of someone. And just staying there.

They’d drifted off quite suddenly, after Sans’ recollection was over.

Exhaustion, both physical and mental, had finally taken hold. The two desperately needed the rest - though Sans figured his brother did moreso, with his injury.

So the older of the skeletons didn’t dare budge.

He privately wondered if his brother’s current position was to prevent him from wandering off, anywhere. 

(Sans chuffed. A skilful trap, worthy of the Great Papyrus.)

He shivered a little, again. The wind had picked up once more, echoing lowly through the chasm.

Temperature generally wasn’t something that bothered him. But he was starting to miss wearing clothing. One tattered sleeve wasn’t cutting it…

“… Hello?”

Startled, his head suddenly rose off of his claws. He felt his brother stir, and Sans grew still once more, the lights in his eye sockets darting to the source of the voice.

He could see Papyrus’ sleeping skull to the left. 

And there, leaning into view from behind it, was Frisk.

Draped around their neck and shoulders was Papyrus’ tattered scarf - though it operated a lot more like a cape at this point. It seemed like only a section of the entire thing, however - Papyrus wouldn't be happy at the fact that his favourite scarf was in pieces, now.

They gave a sheepish wave as they cautiously stepped past the sleeping Papyrus, their lips pressed into a thin line.

“Sorry.” They whispered, waving their hands. “A-Alphys is trying to help Undyne heal and rest - and I wanted to see if you were okay. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

They took a step back. “I can go back inside - ”

The moment the human began to turn away, Sans’ foreleg slid forward into Frisk’s path.

They looked back at him, startled. He chuffed, quietly.

 _< you’re fine, kid.  > _Sans said, turning his claw on its side and carefully scooping them towards him a little. _< get over here.  >_

Frisk gave a small smile, wandering over to the side of his skull. They sat down, leaning their back against it, wrapping Papyrus’ scarf around them for warmth.

Sans was a little taken aback at how small they were compared to him, now. Hours before, they still stood at a similar height - spikes or otherwise. He stilled completely, his eye sockets fixed on the human with a small amount of trepidation.

He needed to be careful.

“…Are you okay?”

Sans blinked. Frisk had taken a moment to gather their thoughts, before turning to look over their shoulder at his great eye socket. Their voice was even quieter than usual.

Careful not to dislodge his friend, he managed a small nod.

 _< … okay as i can be, i guess.  > _He crooned, softly. The sound vibrated through the floor, and Frisk gave a hushed giggle.

It was at that moment that Sans realized that he hadn’t properly talked to the kid in a while, now. 

While the kid was nothing if not resilient, they’d spent the past couple of days dealing with two beastly, panicking skeletons. They'd had to deal with a mad scientist who seemed to have no concern for their wellbeing. They'd had to deal with being cut off from contacting their family.

 _… not to mention getting brushed off every five seconds._ He thought to himself, cringing inwardly at the multiple times he'd evaded the kid's questions.

“Um…”

Frisk brought his thoughts back to the present. Glancing at the human, he spotted the dark shadows beneath their eyes.

He frowned, his sternum tightening slightly.

Cripes. When was the last time the kid had gotten a proper rest?

“…Alphys just… finished telling us about what happened.” Frisk said, cautiously. 

At this, Sans grew still.

“ _…E-Everything._  The CORE. Th-the... mutagen. All those years ago, I mean.”

They looked over at him, wearily. Sans found himself deflating a little at the sight. Frisk looked miserable.

“I don’t… I don’t know if you want to talk about that.”

Sans’ eye sockets grew dim.

_< ... looks like you wanna talk about it even less.  > _

He shook his skull slightly from side-to-side, hoping the human would get the intent.

In a hesitant moment, Frisk turned around, hugging his skull side-on as tightly as they could.

“…Okay.” They said, softly. 

Then, they increased their grip as tightly as they could.

“… I’m really sorry, Sans.”

The skeleton's eye sockets slid closed. 

For a moment, they just stayed like that. Papyrus' weight on his back, and the arms around the side of his skull. Sans could almost feel himself drifting off again.

He drew in a deep breath, and his eye sockets slide back open to focus on the dimly-lit CORE, once more.

Frisk shifted at the side of his skull, withdrawing from the hug and turning to sit up against it.

“… I think I was kind of mad, you know?” They said, curtly.

Sans blinked, a pupil of light darting back to look at Frisk. They were staring down into Papyrus’ scarf.

“I… I knew you were keeping things to yourself.” They fiddled with the red fabric. “I mean… I know you usually do. I-I guess you _always_ did… when I was travelling through the Underground.”

Sans raised a brow. Frisk shifted back, sitting up straight. They seemed to be staring at the bridge that led to the CORE.

“Over the past couple days, you… kept hiding things, and I got frustrated about it.” They said, quietly. “And I guess it was because… I really wanted you to be calm?”

Sans gave his head a slight, inquiring tilt. Frisk looked back at him.

“…when I first knew you… no matter what happened, nothing seemed to faze you.” They explained. “You seemed to _know_ everything, or _understand_ everything.”

Turning away, they stretched their arms upwards, taking a deep breath. “When I was travelling through the Underground, I decided… that I wanted to be like that, too. It helped… seeing you seem like you knew what you were doing. Papyrus, too.”

They gave a sad smile, lowering their hands onto their lap. 

“With everything that was happening, I wanted… to be _calm_ , like you.”

Sans turned his head a little, his gaze resting on the human. 

“I guess I didn’t think you could be scared, like me.”

Frisk’s tone wasn’t hostile, but sheepish. They were staring back at him now, shoulders hunched a little in shame.

Sans managed a beastly smile back.

 _< … you put way too much stock in me, buddy.  >_ He said, softly. 

Frisk curled up against his skull and he snorted, leaning his head into the gesture. As a regular skeleton, he was never really the huggy type. His means of communication were a bit limited at the moment, though.

“… I’m sorry that I felt angry.” The human said, quietly. 

Sans raised a brow. 

_< don’t be. i messed up.  >_

“People who get scared… they do really dumb things sometimes, don’t they?” Frisk said, softly.

The beast raised an eyebrow, initially wondering if that statement was directed at him. It wasn’t until he saw Frisk’s expression that he suddenly froze.

 

_< kid…  >_

 

He curled his claw protectively around the human, who held on tightly to one of his digits. They were tight-lipped, staring at nothing.

There was a pause.

“…There's... something I need to tell you.” Frisk said, suddenly. “It... It's the main reason I'm out here.”

They shook their head, as if to clear their thoughts. “I think it might be important, for what’s been going on.”

Sans blinked as Frisk continued to stare into space for a moment. They still seemed troubled about the previous topic, but their expression soon set into something focused.

“You… know how I can SAVE, right?” They said, carefully.

Sans’ own features grew serious. Frisk released his digit, and he slowly placed his claw flat on the ground.

 _< _**_this_** _business, huh? > _He rumbled, thoughtfully.

In the wake of everything that had happened, it almost seemed strange to be discussing it, again. The struggles of SAVES and resets had been his main concern in recent years - not all these Gaster shenanigans.

It was almost comforting to return to this topic, if not _just_ out of familiarity.

He felt Frisk’s weight disappear from the side of his skull, as they slowly got up and walked around to his snout. They sat back down, cross-legged to face him directly.

“…You’ve always known that I can SAVE.” They said, their face set into a stony expression.

Sans nodded, assuredly.

_< go on, kid.  >_

“… I told you I wouldn’t reset, remember?” They said, their voice hushed, their gaze darting cautiously to the sleeping Papyrus. “No matter what. I said I wouldn’t even... step back. I’d just keep going forward.”

They looked at him, suddenly self-conscious. “A-And I _still_ mean that.” They added, firmly.

Sans scanned their features, his own expression suddenly guarded - but he couldn’t make out any sign of guilt, or indifference.

No real offence to the kid. They’d definitely proven their sincerity when it came to this. 

But the concept of playing around with timelines still left Sans cautious.

“...Ever since all this stuff with Gaster started… with you and Papyrus not doing well… I guess it’s been hard to stay determined.” Frisk continued, fiddling with Papyrus’ scarf. “I-I’ve noticed that I haven’t even been SAVING, all that much.”

Sans blinked, slowly.

Right. From what he’d heard, the kid saved involuntarily. 

They couldn’t control exactly when or where they ‘saved,’ but it was definitely something that had happened a lot on their journey through the entire Underground.

He’d felt the residual effects, himself.

“I didn’t really think a whole lot about it.” Frisk said. “I only… really used SAVING if I was in danger. O-Or if I made a mistake.”

They looked down. “I didn’t think about if… I could use it to help in this situation. I promised I wouldn’t reset, or anything.”

They drew in a deep breath. “But… something happened, while you and Undyne were far ahead of us. When I stayed behind with Papyrus. I-In Muffet’s cavern.”

Frisk paused, glancing at the sleeping Papyrus once again. Then, they stared firmly back at Sans.

 

“… I don't think I can SAVE, anymore.” They said.

 

Sans’ eye sockets went wide and black.

 _< … come again?  > _He trilled, a little louder than he’d intended.

Frisk didn’t flinch. They seemed more preoccupied by their own words.

“… I told you before…” They began, quietly. “I only ‘SAVE’ when I feel _determined_. If I’m in trouble, I just… pop back to where I last SAVED.”

They looked down, frowning.

“I guess I haven’t been feeling like that as often, but… but when I was in the cavern with Papyrus - when he was working so hard to climb up the wall - it started to happen again. I was rooting for him to make it out of there. I was determined for him to succeed.”

They looked back at him.

“… but then, something… _stopped_ me.”

Sans’ sternum grew tight.

“When I was about to SAVE, something in the air just… _shocked_ me.” Frisk said, shaking their head. “It… _hurt_ to try.”

They frowned, crossing their legs. “…That’s never happened before." They gripped at their sweater. "Not like that.”

Light returned to Sans’ eye sockets. He lifted his skull a little, staring at Frisk directly.

 _< ‘…something in the air,’ huh?  > _He repeated, thoughtfully.

“… I'm sorry. I don’t know if it’s important to what’s going on.” Frisk admitted. “I just… I really thought you should know. Because it never happened before…”

They frowned, suddenly.

“… before Gaster appeared.”

Sans briefly glanced back at the sleeping Papyrus, before turning back to Frisk.

The concept of SAVING was rarely something that Sans openly discussed. He’d only become aware of the phenomenon himself a few years ago. Or at least, what had _felt_ like a few years. In reality, it was probably a lot shorter.

Sans didn’t explicitly remember the shifts in time. Not like Frisk did.

But he had been aware of a single force exploiting the timeline over and over.

He frowned. It hadn’t just been instinct that had caused him to wise up to the timeline shenanigans. 

…it had been _sensation._ Sound. Phrases. 

Even _expressions_. 

His head lowered back down to the floor.

_‘It didn’t happen before Gaster appeared.’_

Sans felt a dull ache in his eye socket and closed it, as if in response to the dormant, chaotic energy that was housed within it.

‘Before Gaster,’ huh?

Things were a lot simpler back then. 

It had been years before Sans had come to understand that his awareness of time-jumps was simply a another residual effect of the CORE fragment incident. He’d had the sense since he was a teenager, but he’d never explicitly _understood_ it until much later. 

He’d had other things to worry about at the time, after all. Like the fact he’d temporarily been transformed into a weapon…

…and the culprit didn’t seem to exist, anymore.

“Sans?”

The beast blinked, startled out of his thoughts. Frisk’s voice was a little cautious - and they’d leaned back a little. They appeared to be a little pale.

It was after a moment that Sans realised he’d been _growling_. He fell silent again, blinking.

 _< … sorry, kid.  > _He said, a little startled. _ < that wasn’t directed at you. >_

Frisk extended their hand, cautiously. Sans reached forward with his muzzle to close the difference. 

He crooned softly for good measure, and Frisk seemed to relax.

The skeleton realized he needed to be more careful on the communication front. He was still in control of himself, but his instincts were another story.

He was currently piloting a form that was inclined to wear his heart on his ripped-up sleeve.

Not to mention, he couldn’t clear up any behavioural misunderstandings as easily as he’d hope to.

 _< … i’m not sure what’s going on with you, kiddo.  >_ He rumbled, quietly. _< …but if the doc’s got anything to do with it…  >_

He trailed off, seeing Frisk's expression grow blank, then slightly dejected. He watched as their shoulders slowly slumped. 

Sans gave a quiet sigh.

... Right. Yeah. He wasn't as verbal as he felt, right now.

He couldn't really reassure the kid like he used to - not until he'd been changed back to normal. And Sans was unsure of how he was going to fix their dilemma to begin with. He didn’t know what to say.

There was a small ache in his sternum, as he realised there was no real point in saying _anything_.

His gaze dropped to the ground, and his muzzle rested back on top of his claws, out of Frisk’s reach.

 _< … forget it.  > _He rumbled, quietly.

There was a pause.

It was at that moment when Sans felt the weight on his back suddenly grew heavier.

 

 _< HONESTLY, BROTHER! YOU REALLY NEED TO WORK ON YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT SKILLS!! THAT WAS A SOLID_   _"F" - FOR "FATIGUED!"_

 

There was a pause, as Frisk jolted in alarm and Sans’ eye sockets grew half-lidded.

 _< what can i say, bro?  > _He mused, lifting his head, slightly.  _< haven't been catching my "z"s, lately.  >_

He’d already been suspicious about Papyrus' snoring ceasing entirely at some point during Frisk’s explanation. 

Sans felt his brother’s weight shift off of him, as the larger Blaster scooted backwards, his forepaws coming to rest before the startled Frisk. The human had gone completely pale, a bead of sweat on their forehead.

But the skeletal beast did not seem phased in the slightest, leaning forward to face Frisk at level.

 _< WHAT SANS _ **_MEANS_ ** _TO SAY IS... WE’LL FIX THIS! > _Papyrus began brightly, tapping his tail in thought.

He frowned.  _< NOW, FRISK! I’M NOT SURE WHAT THIS BUSINESS OF ‘SAVING’ OR ‘RESETTING,’ IS ALL ABOUT,  >_ He perked up.  _< BUT IF THE DOCTOR DOES HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT, WE’LL DO EVERYTHING TO HELP STOP HIM! I'M NOT ABOUT TO LET MY SUPER COOL FRIEND GET HURT, AGAIN!  >_

He leaned forward, gently nudging the startled Frisk with his nose. Sans couldn't help but notice that his bravado had melted into something much gentler. He seemed to have immediately picked up on Frisk's discomfort. 

The human’s alarm began to subside. And with relief followed exhaustion. Sans grew aware of how loose they appeared - their small body beginning to move with all the weight of a rag doll. 

Frisk placed both hands on Papyrus’ snout, both to support themself, and out of affection. It was clear to see that they had absolutely no idea what the skeleton had tried to say. But they seemed to be reassured, regardless. They tiredly smiled back at him.

 _< IT’S GOING TO BE OKAY, FRISK.  > _ Papyrus pressed his snout against Frisk’s hands. _< NOW, THEN…  >_

He withdrew, then ducked his head in again, suddenly gently taking the end of the red scarf between his teeth and gently pulling Frisk in towards him.

 _< … YOU LOOK ABSOLUTELY EXHAUSTED!!  > _He trilled, promptly setting the human down beside his foreleg. _< YOU HUMANS REQUIRE MUCH MORE SLEEP THAN I THOUGHT YOU WOULD! TO BED WITH YOU!  > He frowned. < THOUGH THERE'S NONE OUT HERE. >_

Sans shrugged. _ < don't think they care, bro. >_ He remarked, as Frisk slowly sat down, curling up against Papyrus’ radial bone. 

The two Blasters stared at the child in silence for a moment, as sleep finally took them.

Sans waited for Frisk's breathing to grow rhythmic, before slowly turning to his brother.

 _< … how long were you listening?  >_ He asked, quietly. 

 _< I DON’T THINK YOU TWO HAD BEEN TALKING FOR VERY LONG.  >_ Papyrus said, in equal softness. 

There was a pause. Sans looked over at his brother, who was still staring at the human in concern.

_< pap?  >_

Papyrus' head lowered a little, and his tail flicked.

 _< … THEY SPOKE TO ME ABOUT IT, YOU KNOW.  >_ He continued, as if they were discussing the weather. _< JUST A LITTLE. THEY DIDN’T SEEM TO WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT, MUCH. IT REMINDED ME OF YOU.  >_

Papyrus looked up at Sans, the solemn expression on his features fading. 

 _< BUT IT LOOKS LIKE THEY’VE TOLD _**_YOU_** _ABOUT IT,_ _THOUGH. >_ A toothy smile appeared on his features. _< I’M GLAD THAT THEY HAD SOMEONE TO TALK TO, BROTHER!  >_

Sans’ smile reappeared, though solemn. 

_< uh-huh.  >_

There was a silence. He drew back, crossing one foreleg across the other.

 _< …speakin' of which, thanks for listenin' to me.  >_ He decided to say. He smirked when he could practically _feel_ Papyrus beaming beside him in response.

All the same, Sans turned back to his brother, a cautious look on his features.

_< ...you okay?  >_

Papyrus blinked, the shine fading from his eyesockets. He glanced in.

 _< … IT’S A LOT TO TAKE IN.  > _He admitted, quietly. _< … SOME STUFF I ALREADY KNEW. BUT IT’S A WHOLE OTHER THING, HEARING IT FROM YOU.  >_

Papyrus shifted his foreleg, carefully. Sans smirked at the sight of his brother trying to be perfectly still to accommodate for the sleeping child.

_< …I KNOW YOU SAID THAT I’D DONE ENOUGH.  > _

The Blaster's tone was strangely quiet. Sans looked up to face him, blinking slowly as Papyrus stared back - a mixture of proud and sad.

 _< I STILL WISH I COULD HAVE DONE MORE.  > _He said.

The spines on Sans’ back seemed to bristle, and his eye sockets went dark.

 _< … yeah. >_ He said, softly. _ < i know the feeling, bro. >_

On an unspoken whim, both Blasters suddenly turned back to the CORE facility.

It looked dim and lifeless. Almost eerily serene.

Sans wasn't sure if he believed it was currently housing a crazed, vengeful monster.

_< … I WONDER WHERE HE’S GONE?  >  _

Sans turned to face Papyrus, blinking owlishly. Well, that was timely of him. 

 _< not sure.  > _He frowned. _< do you… ‘hear’ him at all?  >_

Papyrus was silent a moment. He tilted his head, and Sans noted a faded flicker of orange in his eyesocket. It narrowed as he strained in concentration.

Then, he shook his head, blinking rapidly.

 _< NO. HE DOESN’T SEEM TO BE NEARBY.  > _He looked back at Sans, eyebrows raised. _< I CAN... 'HEAR' SOMETHING, THOUGH. IT'S LIKE SOMETHING'S... BUZZING. BUT HE'S VERY FAR AWAY.  >_

Sans nodded, lowering his head to his claws.

_< well, he can just **buzz** off for all i care.  >_

It was an apt description. It was like an electronic hum, a kind of white noise - a call to action, on behalf of Gaster.

That sound had once threatened to drown everything out. His thoughts, his feelings. But now, it carried no weight to it. Nothing in Sans' mind responded to the noise, aside from mild irritation.

Papyrus frowned, looking back at the CORE.

 _< WELL, HE'S CERTAINLY MADE HIMSELF SCARCE, BROTHER.  > _He said, raising a brow.

Sans’ gaze darted down to his claws. _< well, what else can he do? his plan to use us sorta went south.  > _

There was a pause.

 _< MAYBE HE’LL WANT TO CHANGE US BACK, THEN.  > _Papyrus said, hopefully. 

Sans shifted, a little.

_< …maybe.  >_

 

… if he even _could,_ now.

 

It was an unspoken kind of fear. 

Sans could _feel_ the mutagen, so tightly interwoven into his SOUL. With the low, electronic hum that buzzed at the back of his mind, Sans could _feel_ Gaster’s disembodied presence. And though it no longer carried the authority and fear it used to, it still charged the air with a sickening force. 

And if Undyne’s earlier attack on the doctor indicated anything, it seemed impossible to dust him - and sever the doctor’s influence on them.

Sans stared down at his claws, his eye sockets growing dim.

Maybe Gaster didn’t have a handle on them, anymore. Maybe they weren't completely rendered helpless by their fear, but…

 

… was this really how they would be from now on?

 

The beast had been staring at his new digits for a good fifteen seconds before he realized that Papyrus was silent. 

Turning to face him, Sans watched as his brother carefully nudged his scarf further over Frisk’s sleeping form with his snout.

 _< THIS WAS MUCH EASIER WITH FINGERS.  >_ He grumbled.

There was a pause, his head rising to face Sans. His expression seemed to focus, and Sans realised that he’d probably appeared quite worried to the younger skeleton.

 _< …I MEANT WHAT I SAID, BROTHER.  > _Papyrus said, quietly. _< WE’RE GOING TO FIND A WAY TO FIX ALL THIS.  >_

Papyrus drew back from the human, flexing his digits with what little dexterity he had.

 _< WE'RE GOING TO HELP UNDYNE AND ALPHYS. WE’RE ALSO GOING TO MAKE SURE FRISK DOESN’T GET HURT, AGAIN.  > _He said, with a nod. _< I MAY NOT KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THEM... BUT I’LL DO WHAT I CAN TO HELP!  >_

Sans blinked, raising an eyebrow.

_< you’re... not gonna ask them?  >_

Papyrus paused, as if in thought. Then, he shook his head, decisively. 

 _< WELL, I CAN’T RIGHT NOW. AND IT WOULDN’T BE RIGHT TO ASK YOU! THIS IS FRISK’S SECRET.  >_ He said, simply. _< THEY’LL TELL ME IF THEY WANT TO. AND IF THEY _**_HAVE_** _TO! > _

He turned to Sans. _< ...I THINK THEY HAVE A GOOD HEAD ON THEIR SHOULDERS WHEN IT COMES TO STUFF LIKE THAT.  > _

Sans grinned. _ < unlike some people you know? >_

Papyrus rolled his remaining eye socket.

 _< YOU'RE A SKELETON.  > _He said, flatly.  _< OF COURSE YOU'RE PRONE TO LOSING YOUR HEAD!  >_

There was a brief pause.

 _< I’M JUST WORRIED THAT IT MIGHT HURT THEM, AGAIN.  >_ Papyrus frowned. _< I SAW IT HAPPEN, YOU KNOW. WHEN FRISK GOT ZAPPED.  >_

Sans glanced over to the sleeping human.

He shifted back a little, stretching his shoulders as he rose to his haunches. 

_< …what’d it look like? do you remember?  >_

Papyrus studied the air before him, thoughtfully.

 _< BLACK, SQUARE LITTLE SPECKS.  > _He recounted.

Sans blinked, feeling the chill of Snowdin from about two days ago. 

_< …square little specks?  >_

His brother nodded, firmly. _< THEY SORT OF… APPEARED AROUND FRISK AND JUST… WHOOSH!!!  >_

He swiped his snout downwards with the sound effect. Frisk stirred a little against his foreleg, and Papyrus stilled, wide-eyed and careful.

Sans’ eye sockets narrowed. He felt uneasy. 

_< like that, huh?  > _

Papyrus nodded, suddenly frowning, himself. _< KINDA LIKE…  >_

_< … what happened when…  >_

They both paused.

 _< … WHEN WE TRIED TO CHANGE BACK.  > _Papyrus said, the smallest flicker of orange appearing in the large hole in his skull. 

Sans growled, quietly. 

 _< … well, the particles were violet, for us.  >_ He said, thoughtfully. _< but… they did the same thing, huh?  >_

Papyrus looked down at the slumbering Frisk.

 _< DO YOU THINK GASTER’S BEHIND THIS?  >_ He said, blinking. 

Sans’ gaze rose back to the CORE. He was more than happy to pin the blame on the doctor for this, but something else was bugging him. 

 _< …i don’t know why frisk would be affected by gaster.  > _Sans lay back down, eye sockets on the human. _< whatever it is, it’s probably the doc’s doing. but… i don’t know if it’s deliberate. maybe it’s just a byproduct of the whole thing.  >_

Papyrus blinked. _< WHAT DO YOU MEAN?  >_

Sans shrugged. _ < you saw him, bro. the doc doesn’t seem… > _He faltered.

_< … HEALTHY?  >_

The smaller beast stared incredulously at Papyrus.

_< that’s, uh… one way to put it?  > _

It was actually almost a perfect way to put it. The calculated and scheming Gaster that Sans was familiar with had deteriorated into a desperate and incoherent mess of a monster. 

His tail twitched.

Sans was sure that Gaster had lost his rationality a long time ago, but this was different. The doc beforehand… he’d pushed against everyone else’s word with his own ideas and demands. He’d spoken with an air of confidence and analysis. Like he’d perfectly justified his actions.

Now, he seemed unstable. _Arguing_ with himself. Sans remembered the avid denial and fear in the doctor’s eyes as he’d felt the impact of several bony hands upon his forehead.

The Blaster felt his eye sockets flicker the slightest bit.

 

He was honestly unsure which Gaster was worse.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Screams echoed through the hall.

His surroundings were a rush of blues, blacks and greys. His body felt like lead, sharp shocks and spasms rocking it violently. 

There was no means of control. He writhed in the centre of his infuriating arms as they took him down flight after flight of stairs, hall after hall in the maze that was the CORE facility.

Words failed him, traded for screams of agony. 

He had no weapons. He had no plan.

He had no control.

It was as if he were adrift in the Void, all over again.

_FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF, ARE WE?_

Gaster lashed out at a passing door handle. His grip was steadfast, but his velocity caused the door to be ripped off its hinges. He released it with a scream, the door clattering loudly behind him and vanishing from sight.

**CALM DOWN. THERE’S NO WAY TO FIGHT THEM, NOW. I WOULD PREFER NOT TO BE IMPALED, AGAIN.**

The scientist’s own voice sounded strained, as it tried to speak through clenched teeth.   
****

**_I’LL SURVIVE…_** He gasped, his voice raw. **_SHE THREW SO MANY SPEARS INTO ME… AND I’M STILL ALIVE…_**

He conceded. The scientist didn’t want to admit it, but he knew for a fact, now. (Through his _own_ discovery, not through these infernal voices)  
****

Gaster was still connected to the anchor he’d created. And he was still connected to the Void, in turn.

This left him with some defiance over the rules of this realm. It appeared he could not be killed.

But all the same… all it would take was somebody properly deactivating the CORE - and he would be pulled back into the darkness.

All of his efforts would be for naught.

His hands gripped at the steel floor. The maddened stampede through the CORE facility had begun to slow. The scientist caught glimpses of his own hands slamming onto small, sleek wall panels that scanned his bony fingers with a feeble green light - and heard the groans of machine doors opening in response.

 ** _… BUT MY WEAPONS…_** He began.

 _WHAT WEAPONS?_ He sneered in response.

Gaster clenched his teeth shut, stopping any more words from escaping his mouth.

What weapons indeed? They were useless to him, now. Dangerous.

Even though Sans and Papyrus could no longer maintain their original forms, they had managed to shake off his control. Gaster only provided a kind of security that the Blaster within them no longer sought.

A flaw in the mutagen. One that he could correct if he’d had the time and resources.

But no. He was cornered. In his own facility. 

His hands had slowed into a crawl. His body now lay flat upon the ground, being dragged by the mass of limbs before him.

The air around him was cold and stale. The steel beneath him scraped at his bowed skull, and he tried to lift it upwards. It was dead weight.

He could see his distorted reflection in the brushed metal beneath him. He watched as a hand slowly reached to his face. The palm covered his eyes, and remained there.

_IT WOULD BE DANGEROUS FOR YOU TO KEEP MOVING IN THIS DIRECTION._

It lowered gently off of his features. A solemn expression peered back at him - and despite his contemplation, Gaster decided it didn’t suit him at all.

**YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU CONTINUE, DON’T YOU?**

His eye socket twitched.

A loud _crack_ echoed through the steel hall.

Gaster was aware of an intense pain at the back of his skull. Several hands pulled away from the side of his cranium.

He heard the clinking of small bone shards falling down onto the steel floor before him.

He’d barely felt the self-inflicted blow.

**_AM I MEANT TO SIMPLY ACCEPT THIS?_ **

His voice was soft and dangerous. The arms around him seemed to shrink away from his head, as if nervous of his tone. The shards that framed his reflection crumbled into dust.

**_DO YOU EXPECT ME TO GROW… TOLERANT OF SOME GAPING WOUND IN MY SIDE, LIKE A FOOL? DO YOU EXPECT ME TO BE COMPLACENT WITH BEING TRAPPED IN THE DARKNESS?_ **

His mouth was drawn. His eye sockets grew wide and blank, a hollow look staring back up at him.  
****

**_THAT’S_ ** **_ALRIGHT ,_ ** **_IS IT? IT’S_ ** **_FAIR ,_ ** **_IS IT?_ **

All of his arms slammed down to the floor, suspending his slumped form in the air. A ferocious glare beamed back at him from the steel.  
****

**_IS IT?!_ **

 

The halls had no answer for him but the echoes of his voice. His head lifted to break his gaze with the steel, as the hands lowered his body back down. His knees buckled as his sagging feet touched the floor.

 ** _I CAN’T TOLERATE IT._** He whispered.  
****

His eye sockets grew half-lidded.

 **_I’M…_ ** **_FREE_ ** **_OF THAT._ **

Silence took him for a while. Blessed silence. The voices had decided to quieten down. For now, he was in control.

Though Gaster surmised that it would not be for long.

After a pause, he looked up at his surroundings, brow creasing in thought.

…Where had these infernal arms taken him?

Gaster recalled the dim halls of the CORE blurring from the velocity he’d travelled. Cyan steel, patterned with circuitry - the tiled of the CORE interior… 

… only now, he was surrounded by dark grey steel from all sides.

The floor was coated in a thin layer of dust, including the small amount from his own skull shards. His gaze rose, and he realised that he was in a long, dark corridor. Large, reinforced doors were situated opposite from one another, patterned with black and yellow cautionary paint. It was dull and chipped - years of disuse had taken its toll.

Gaster blinked, slowly.

He was at the very bottom of the facility. The CORE underground. 

 

He had not seen this place in years.

 

Gaster stepped forward, on his own two legs again. He felt the weight of the mass of arms slowing him, but he remained focused on the moment.

The doctor passed by a huge door marked T-7. The Blaster Storage room. Gaster knew it would be empty - Sans had stolen all the Blasters a good twelve years ago. 

His bony fingers brushed away lines of dust from the door, before his gaze fell on the opposing door, on the other side of the hall.

It was marked S-7.

Gaster’s hand fell to his side.

He marched towards it, one of his stray hands placing itself palm-first on a small glass pad next to the door.

It gave a muted, but affirmative beep. The remaining power in the facility managed to activate the door mechanism just enough for it to lift to the doctor’s shoulder height.

Stooping a little, he ventured inside.

The lights were dim, and a fierce emergency red. The room was wide and cavernous, accommodating many towering machines at the sides - the centre of the room mostly consisting of empty space. The walls were slanted, and the back of the room was lined with the natural formation of the Underground caves. Pipes and wires snaked up its surface.

Gaster’s gaze lowered to the floor in the centre of the room.

Circular glyphs, scrawled in chalk, lined the concrete floor. Many had faded over the passage of time. Scorch marks were burned into the ground, as well.

Gaster drew in a deep breath.

He was in the generator room.

A reliable place for private projects. 

The chamber was secluded, inaccessible to anyone without his permission. It housed the main power distributor for the CORE to the rest of the Underground.

That had given him both power and privacy - the security camera footage was very poor due to the signal interference. He could work uninterrupted, and unquestioned.

Gaster stepped forward, staring hard at the lifeless machinery that surrounded him. The leftmost wall was lined with fuse boards - power lines branching upwards along the wall. 

He craned his neck back, watching them vanish into the ceiling.

The lines evenly distributed the CORE’s magical electricity to all the outputs in the Underground. He was at the centre of the entire power network.

The doctor gaze scanned the fuses, scratching his head. 

They were all switched on. 

While the CORE had been apparently scheduled to be deactivated, nobody had gone down here to switch off the network, itself.

His eye sockets narrowed, and his gaze lowered to the control panel beneath the vast grid of switches.

After a moment, Gaster turned away to look at the machinery on the other side of the room. 

The uniform grey and orange steel for the generator machinery was absent. These machines were the usual cyan and cobalt of the CORE interior, patterned with the occasional red lights.

Gaster stepped forward. He’d constructed them out of the same material. But their function was very different - and without sufficient power, impossible. It was a shame, really.

The doctor stared hard at the several giant, monstrous, lifeless skulls housed within each machine station. 

Several wires and tubes hung down from above them, attached through their eye sockets and jaws. Many of them looked to be in disrepair - several had horns that had crumbled to dust, while others had lost one side of their bifurcated jaws. One’s eye socket had been completely decimated.

He placed a hand on the glass. His violet eye sockets stared back at him from the distorted reflection, distant.

The small crew would come for him, soon. Even if he could utilise this equipment, somehow, there was no future for the scientist so long as he remained connected to the Void.

If only he had more time.

…

His violet eye sockets gleamed.

If only he could… _use_ more time.

The corner of his mouth twitched, as he withdrew his hand from the glass.

Gaster let himself step back, and spun on the spot to face the enormous generator console. His eye sockets narrowed in focus, his many arms beginning to extend and fan out from behind his back.

The CORE was his own creation. He knew every function, every way it could be utilised. 

He didn’t need a miracle. He just needed time, security, and tools.

And there were always tools readily available to be used. One just needed to look hard enough to see them.

One just needed to think creatively.

Reaching the console, he began to type in input after input. Gaster’s many arms reached up to the massive fuse board, individually switching each one off. 

If he could divert the power… 

If he concentrated all the energy here…

If he could make use of all the resources that he could see, and the ones that would soon arrive…

… maybe he had a plan, after all.

The machinery around him began to hum, and light up. The circuitry patterning upon the steel illuminated outwards, branching across the walls and floor. The CORE facility began to return to life, rather than limbo.

Gaster remained so focused on his task that he did not hear the electronic buzzing around him grow louder.

He did not notice the space around him rip open from some invisible strain. 

He did not see the large, black streaks floating in the empty, stale air.

He did not hear the cacophony of roaring static from each one.

 

He simply continued to work onwards, as the world began to fall apart around him.

 

 


	28. A Tunnel

 

_~ My tears water the flower of my heart;_

_I will not stay rooted in my sorrows_

_My heart will bloom again after the passing storm_

_Next time! We’ll all grow together! ~_

Undyne watched the credits roll up the screen on the small laptop. The subtitled lyrics, filling with colour as they were sung, blurred before her. She gave a weary yawn.

“Eh. Season two’s ending song was better.” She mumbled quietly, reaching over and slowly closing the laptop shut. It entered sleep mode, and she leaned back against the wall she currently sat against.She was cushioned by a few pillows and one huge blanket scavenged from the MTT Resort rooms. 

Though sleeping on one of the beds seemed more practical than the floor, Undyne didn’t like the idea of being too far from the rest of the group.

The captain rubbed at her temple, sleepily.

She kinda felt like crap. She’d pushed her limit twice in the past couple of days. Once from dehydration, and now from magic overload. (Her damaged eye still stung from her efforts.) 

She was definitely feeling her strength return, but in the place of physical weakness came irritability. And not even binge-watching Mew Mew Kissy Cutie with her girlfriend was helping much.

She looked down to see Alphys, fast asleep under her arm. Watching anime had been her idea - she’d had her laptop on hand in her inventory. However, after rambling excitedly about the much-redeeming Season 3 of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie, she’d fallen right asleep before the opening theme had even finished. 

For good reason, Undyne thought, frowning. At the very least, their crew had gotten some shut-eye, earlier. Being trapped in the CORE facility, the scientist probably hadn’t slept at _all_ these past couple days.

She slowly stroked her girlfriend’s crest. Alphys hummed, stirring a little in her sleep, before leaning more into the captain. A small blush travelled across Undyne’s features, and she gave a smile that she wouldn’t be caught dead wearing in front of anyone else. 

Regardless, it faded. 

She carefully lifted her arm off the scientist, and gently, _gently_ \- lowered her to the carpeted floor. The exhausted Alphys didn’t budge an inch, only curling in tighter on herself. The captain tugged the blanket over her, for good measure.

They’d all been resting for a few hours, now. It seemed to have been a unanimous, yet unspoken agreement - they were all exhausted and they needed their strength for whatever was to come, next. 

The captain knew that they all needed to get to the surface, somehow. But the labyrinthian CORE was in the way. 

And in turn, _Gaster_.

Her expression soured at the thought of him, and she stood up abruptly. She wandered over to the centre of the MTT Resort entrance hall, gazing down the passage to the CORE entrance with a frown.

Sans, Papyrus and Frisk all fast asleep at the CORE overlook. Frisk was leaning against Papyrus’ radial bone, curled up with some of the remains of the skeleton’s scarf. They were sleeping deeply from the looks of it - as was Sans, who was still. Papyrus, on the other hand, was snoring a little, his front and back legs twitching the slightest bit - but not nearly enough to rouse the human from slumber.

She sighed.

Yep. They were all still there. None of them had decided sneak off in the middle of the night, again. She’d been worried about getting some shut-eye for precisely that reason, but Alphys had reassured her that it’d probably be much harder to be stealthy in these forms.

The captain stretched, before meandering on over towards the MTT exit hall.

She’d been wary of having both Sans and Papyrus sleep so close to the facility, itself. But if the past had been any indicator, they were both probably a good line of defence against the doctor - conscious or otherwise.

… Egh. ‘Line of defence.’ That phrase wasn’t sitting well with her right now. 

She stopped up next to the MTT fountain, staring over at Papyrus. His head was turned on his side, the injured eye socket facing her. Wisps of orange magic floated around it, the monster food he’d consumed earlier keeping him from feeling the effects of the injury, for now.

She was rubbing at her eyeless socket when Papyrus suddenly stopped twitching. Undyne blinked, wondering if the skeleton had dropped into a more peaceful dream.

She was startled to see his skull lift slightly off the floor to look down at the sleeping Frisk. He crooned lowly, then looked over to his brother. Sans hadn’t stirred at all.

Undyne watched as he slowly, and carefully stood up. He reached over the sleeping Frisk with his snout, picking them up by the back of their sweater. He stepped forward and gently set the human down against his brother’s foreleg. 

Sans jerked awake briefly, his eye sockets a pale blue. Then, seeing Frisk, he chuffed softly and slowly rested his head back down on the floor. He was out like a light within seconds. Frisk didn’t even stir.

Cautiously - almost comically so with his large frame - Papyrus slowly backed away, his head lowered and his footfalls careful and precise. 

Undyne snorted at the sight.

It was then when the Blaster blinked, and spun to look down the hall, catching sight of her. 

Undyne watched as he glanced back at his brother for a moment, stepping in the direction of the resort. Then, he ducked his head under the doorframe and stepped inside.

The captain gave him a small salute. “Hey, Pap.” She said quietly, glancing over to the sleeping Alphys.

Papyrus trotted forward, giving a low croon in greeting. He stopped up a metre before her, suddenly growing wide-eyed and cautious upon spotting the sleeping Alphys. He fell silent once again.

Undyne reached out and petting him on the snout. She scanned his features, for any telltale signs of him being ‘feral.’ But one of his eye socket was bright and attentive.

She couldn’t say much about the other.

“Your head doing okay?”

The beast frowned. He gave a quiet whine, and the captain couldn’t help but grin.

“Yeah, I get it. You’re done just havin’ one eye, huh?” She chuckled, scratching his muzzle. “It’s not the best club to be in.”

Giving another quiet whine, Papyrus leaned into her pets slightly, sitting down on his haunches and scooting his paws forward until he was face to-face with the captain.

Undyne raised an eyebrow, observing the scratch marks on his upper skull, and the gaping eye socket injury up close.

“He really did a number on you, huh?” She muttered.

Papyrus crooned thoughtfully, his eye socket scrunched up in thought. Undyne’s smile faltered a bit.

“…Freakin’ coward.”

Papyrus’ gaze darted back to her, startled. She stepped back, withdrawing her hand to place it behind her head. 

There was a silence, as Undyne glanced away, briefly.

“Hey, uh, Pap?”

There was an inquiring trill, and she glanced back at the beast.

“… Are you mad at me?”

Papyrus drew back, wide-eyed. Her gaze remained fixed on him.

Maybe it wasn’t such a big deal. But it _was_ something she wanted to hear from the horse’s mouth. Or Blaster’s, as it were. 

She’d been careless. In her leniency, she’d let her friend run headfirst into danger. In her anger, she’d let her friend get injured. 

Her rage had clouded her judgement of the situation. Papyrus had a right to be mad.

The look that the Blaster gave her, however, was nothing short of incredulous. With a chuff, he shook his head abruptly - only to stop, blinking woozily. 

She smirked back.

“Heh. Yeah.” She scratched her shoulder. “Nevermind, then.” She straightened her posture. “Lemme see your head, Pap.”

After a moment, the Blaster complied. He seemed watchful, but his expression was hard for her to read.

Undyne drew in a breath, focusing on her magic. Steadily, she placed both hands on Papyrus’ injured eye socket. Realising her intent, the Blaster grew very still.

There was a silence.

“… remember our chat, back at the lab?” She asked. Healing wounds like this was slow, and the captain was all for passing the time. Papyrus chirped an affirmative.

“…You know, you don’t seem so wimpy, anymore.” Undyne smirked. “You’re not freaking out like you did, back then.”

She suddenly frowned. “… But you keep going after us, even when I tell you _not_ to.” 

Papyrus glanced aside, his claws drumming nervously on the carpet. A grin appeared on Undyne’s features, and her magic responded in kind, successfully managing to mend a few cracks upon the bone.

“Heh. Yeah… You never were any good at following orders.” She said, chuckling. Her grin weakened, as she continued to focus her dwindling magic on the injury. “I mean, why do you think your guard training was taking so long, huh?”

The captain worked on in a numb haze, mildly aware of Papyrus’ eye sockets on her. 

“Guess it worked out.” She said, lowly. “Don’t you dare listen to what Gaster says, okay?”

Her magic dwindled some more, the bone struggling to mend. The wound was more elaborate than she’d initially thought, the crack spreading further up the Blaster’s crest. Undyne’s eye narrowed at the extent of the damage.

“…Should’ve taught you more about how to dodge.” She muttered, quietly.

Undyne was startled out of her thoughts from the sound of her magic spluttering at her fingertips, and fizzing out. In the time it took for her to stare at her hands in mild confusion, Papyrus suddenly withdrew from her with a trill.

Surprised at the initial movement, she then scowled, annoyed.

“Hey, _knucklehead!_ I’m not done, yet!”

Papyrus trilled back at her, stomping his front feet. She stepped forward to reach out to his eye socket and he pulled back with a huff. 

He gave another insistent trill, stooping to face her. A series of incomprehensible growls and barks came from his jaws, continuing for a good ten seconds in earnest. 

Undyne shook her head, scowling.

“I can’t _understand_ you, Pap!”

Papyrus suddenly froze, falling completely silent and raising a paw from the floor.

He looked upset.

Undyne found herself snarling. 

“Look, get over here!!” She lunged after him. Startled by the movement, he chirped and darted away from her grasp. He stopped up a few paces away, and turned to face her once again.

“Pap, knock it off!” The captain lunged forward again and he darted to the other side of the room, stopping up short and again turning to face her.

Undyne could see his tail wagging the slightest bit.

“You think this is _funny?_ ” She growled. “Stay still!”

Papyrus narrowed his eyesocket, giving a muted bark as Undyne stalked closer. Then, with a huff he pulled away and suddenly charged down the hall towards the apartment rooms of the resort. Growling, Undyne charged after him.

“YEAH, YOU _BETTER_ RUN!” She roared. “I’M GONNA HEAL YOU SO GOOD THAT IT’LL FEEL LIKE A PUNCH IN THE _FACE!!”_

Papyrus chirped back at her as he ran, reaching the dead-end of the hallway. He barely had enough room to turn on the spot and face her.

He barked, lowering his large form into a playful crouch, his tail wagging slowly and calculatedly as he focused on her.

Despite her rage, the beginnings of a grin tugged the corner of her mouth.

“HAH! Got you, now!”

Undyne lunged forward, but Papyrus sprang upward - sailing directly over her. He landed behind her, charging back towards the main resort hall. Without missing a beat, Undyne darted forward at a full sprint after him.

Papyrus ducked around the MTT-Statue water fountain, trilling. Undyne gave a broad grin and sprang up towards the statue, reaching out for one of the robot’s arms, stretched out in a grandiose pose. 

She grabbed it and swung forward, launching herself directly at the Blaster’ skull.

Papyrus gave a startled yelp as she impacted on the back of his neck. She swung underneath his cervical vertebrae, hugging it and planting her feet on the ground.

_“NGAAAAAAAHHH!”_

The captain proceeded to suplex the massive skeleton over her head, his body curling with the velocity and the spines of his tail slashing past the ceiling. He landed onto his left side with a yelp - the usual ferocity of the captain’s roughhousing absent.

Papyrus scrambled to his feet quickly, shaking himself out.

Undyne remained lying on the carpeted floor, chuckling quietly.

“Fuhuhu…”

A giant beastly skull appeared just above her, nudging her side with a whine. She pushed Papyrus away, grinning.

“Knock it off, Pap. I’m _fi -_ ”

She hesitated, as Papyrus stepped back, staring hard at her.

He whined again, quietly. Undyne’s expression didn’t change, but she slowly rose to her feet.

She understood him a little more clearly, then. A kind of energy, the same kind she’d seen on him as a regular skeleton. It was a little toned-down, now - in a manner more gentle than she’d ever seen it. But all the same…

She gave a heavy sigh, thinking back on the sudden chase he’d put her on a minute ago.

“… You’re trying to cheer me up, huh?”

Papyrus nodded enthusiastically, crooning. Undyne managed a grin.

“Man. Of _course_ you are.” She scratched her head with a sigh. 

Papyrus sat down on his haunches and stared at her. Undyne could clearly see he was concerned, now.

“…Sucks you can’t talk, huh?” She said, with a weak smile.

The captain found herself wishing that the skeleton was back to normal, then and there. Heck, she’d even be happy with seeing her friend back when he was just a little bit on the pointy side.

When he could _talk,_ and be _himself_ \- not someone who had to depend on gestures alone.

Undyne held onto that thought a moment, with a frown.

She suddenly remembered the night in Alphys’ Lab. When the cowering Papyrus was covered in spikes - only partially changed, his eye sockets flickering wildly with orange.

She sighed.

Nah. It ticked her off to see Papyrus as a weapon. But it ticked her off _more_ seeing him so frightened.

Undyne was startled when he lowered his head, leaning his snout against her and shutting his eyesockets. He growled lowly, the sound stern in spite of the gentle gesture.

Undyne was silent a moment, before realising the intent.

“‘Stop bein’ hard on myself,’ huh?” She asked. 

Papyrus withdrew, with a nod. 

Undyne scratched the back of her head. 

“…Yeah. Okay, I get it.” She muttered. Then, she smirked. “Seeing as I’m one of the only ones who can keep gettin’ you guys out of trouble.”

The Blaster proudly barked an affirmative - then paused upon rethinking the statement, and gave a dejected growl. She laughed.

“…Man.”

Papyrus seemed to perk up in alarm as her tone softened. 

“You’re managing to give me a pep talk without any kinda talking.” She stepped forward, placing hands on Papyrus’ skull once more. “That’s just unfair.”

Her magic reactivated, stronger this time. She placed her hands around Papyrus’ damaged eye socket, relaxing a little as he finally chose to keep still.

The cracks mended in the bone. The usual shape of his eye socket reformed, and a light finally re-materialised within it. It flickered wildly at first, then became a solid pupil of white.

Papyrus blinked rapidly, and Undyne finally drew back, her magic fading away. There was still a massive scar in the bone, a shallow crack down over his socket. Chips and other traces of the injury were still there. 

But her friend had both eye sockets, now. That counted for something.

Papyrus chirped at her, his tail falling into a slow wag. And this time, Undyne felt like she could understand him just fine. 

“I-It’s looking much better.”

Undyne jolted and spun on the spot, Papyrus trilling in turn. 

Alphys was approaching them from across the room, rubbing an eye sleepily behind her glasses. She had her laptop tucked under her arm, and it disappeared into her inventory as she looked up at them.

“Ah, man.” Sheepishly, the captain rushed forward to meet her, Papyrus’ heavy footfalls following her. “I’m really sorry, Alphys. Did we wake you?”

The scientist waved a hand with a smile. “H-hey, it’s not like I sleep all that much, anyhow.” She yawned. “But that was probably the b-best I’ve slept in a while.”

She looked up at Papyrus, wringing her hands.

“I-It _was_ about time to try healing you anyway, Papyrus. How do you feel?”

Papyrus gave a chuff, nudging the scientist lightly with his snout. Seemingly hesitant at first, she experimentally reached out towards his muzzle. Papyrus abruptly closed the distance with his snout, and a smile appeared on Alphys’ features in response.

“He’s doing better.” Undyne rubbed her own eye, frowning. “Managed to get some shut-eye, myself.”

Alphys turned to her. “W-well I’m glad! B-but you over exerted yourself.” She said, frowning. “I was really _worried_.”

Undyne grinned back at her. “…Then I guess I won’t worry you again.” She rubbed at her head, frowning. “I’m alright, Alphie. My eye’s just still kinda burning a bit, that’s all.”

Alphys stepped forward. “Just… just don’t touch it.” She said, meekly. “You might make it worse. Where’s your eyepatch?”

Undyne withdrew her hand from her head. “Ugh. Lost it when I overloaded.” She sighed. “It’s probably way down at the bottom of the abyss, by now. I’ll live.”

A trill sounded, and Undyne glanced back over to Papyrus.

The skeleton was frowning. Tapping his claw on the ground in thought for a moment, he perked up and glanced to the side.

The captain followed his gaze to the remains of his old, tattered scarf, lying on the floor. 

Undyne winced at the sight of it. She’d become so used to seeing it proud and fluttering in the unexplainable Underground wind. Now it was just in shambles. There wouldn’t be much point in salvaging it, now.

Regardless, Papyrus trotted over to it. Undyne watched as he picked one end of the scarf off the ground with his jaws, methodically pinning the other side down with his claw.

Undyne blinked. “Hey, what’re you - “

A curt rip sounded as Papyrus jerked his skull upwards. He’d cleanly torn a strip of material away from his scarf. The captain frowned, as the Blaster stared at his tattered scarf with a quiet whine. 

With a huff, he wandered back over to Undyne, dropping the red strip atop her head. She rose an eyebrow with a scoff as one end landed over her remaining eye.

“Great. Now I’m totally blind.”

Papyrus trilled in what sounded like a protest. 

“W-wait.”The strip shifted a little to the left, over the captain’s damaged eye. Alphys had reached up to tug the fabric over. “I-I think he means for you to…” 

Undyne blinked as her vision was restored, spotting Papyrus nodding eagerly.

“… Oh.”

Grinning upon realizing the intent, she took both ends of the strip and tied them tight behind her head. The red strip rested comfortably over her damaged eye, and she turned to face Alphys, whose claws had risen up over her mouth.

“Oh. My God.” She breathed. “You look _amazing._ ”

Papyrus growled an affirmative from behind her, eyesockets shining with joy. 

 _“You look just like Ryuto from the Season 3 OVA!”_ Alphys continued, her eyes glassy. 

Papyrus made a confused growl in response, and Undyne turned to face him, grinning widely and ready to explain.

She frowned when Papyrus’ face suddenly fell. 

His eye sockets had grown wide, and his form had gone entirely rigid.

Alphys noticed his sudden silence, and snapped out of her reverie, confused.

“P-Papyrus?”

The Blaster’s eyesockets briefly flickered orange. 

Undyne’s stomach dropped. 

Any time that light showed up in the eyes of either of the skeleton brothers, it was time for bad news. 

But instead of cowering or acting feral, Papyrus stood to his full height, alert and focused, glancing around his surroundings.

He gave a inquiring growl, the orange fading from his eye sockets.

And then, the air ripped open around them.

Alphys yelped to her left as a black rift suddenly appeared out of nowhere, next to where she’d been standing. It seemed to slice directly through the air, the void within pitch black and seemingly spewing out black square particles.

Papyrus abruptly crouched to the floor as another such rift appeared directly above him. His eye sockets flickered again, and he crawled forward, hunching protectively over the scientist and the captain.

Several more rifts materialised in the MTT Resort Hall, and Undyne spun to take in her surroundings, teeth gritting.

She’d seen these before. When she’d been carrying Sans away from Gaster in the CORE. In the security footage during the CORE’s meltdown.

“What the _hell -_ ”

A scream rang out from the CORE entrance, and all three monsters spun to the MTT Resort exit. 

Through the shattered glass, they spotted Frisk stumbling back, disoriented from a sudden wake-up call. They were grasping their chest, teeth gritted in seeming pain - but seemed to be alerted to another problem.

Papyrus stood up straight, giving a sharp bark.

Sans had also been rudely awakened by the rifts. 

He’d risen abruptly, unsteady and disoriented. Frisk scurried into the resort, still grasping at their chest. They glanced behind them and collapsed to the floor, having narrowly avoided the footfalls of the disoriented Blaster.

Sans threw his head back, and a deep roar punctuated the air.

Undyne felt Papyrus begin to move, and she abruptly reached up to grasp his passing shoulderblade, hitching a ride on his side. 

Sans’ eye sockets were blazing blue.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_“Reno, wait. It’s happening again.”_

 

_Owel’s voice sounded distant, despite it echoing clearly around the CORE facility overlook. The steel floor swam beneath the young skeleton, and he dropped to one knee, his skull throbbing in pain._

_His surroundings flashed yellow and blue, and the buzzing sound of rifts surrounded him. There was a streak of red to Sans’ side as he grimaced, grasping hard at his eye socket._

_“Hold his skull up for me. Carefully.” He could hear Owel instructing Reno, and he groaned._

_“i… it’s okay.” He mumbled, not keen on being fussed over, again. “it’s fine.”_

_“Awesome news, kid. Move your hand.”_

_Two hands pressed firmly, but gently on either side of his skull, raising it to the point where it was facing level. Still wincing, he obligingly removed his hand from his throbbing eye socket._

_A lens like device suddenly appeared in his vision, suspended in the air by orange, telekinetic magic. Sans had grown too used to it to be startled by its presence, anymore._

_The device scanned him, and beeped an affirmative, the usually inoffensive noise making Sans wince in pain._

_“… it’s staying within acceptable levels.” His mentor muttered, flicking her tail. “… the CORE must be a little volatile, today.”_

_“And when isn’t it?” Sans felt Reno remove his hands from either side of his head. Already, the pain was starting to ebb away the slightest bit. “It’s_ **_always_ ** _a churning mess! That’s like saying something is just a little less_ **_explosive_ ** _!”_

_It was morning, just outside of the CORE facility._

_Sans, Owel and Reno were currently travelling together to work. The skeleton had travelled with the red monster from Snowdin, Reno still assigned to look after the younger scientist if the need arose. They’d met up with Owel during their trek through Hotland._

_They’d only just reached the rail-less bridge before Sans had been struck with his usual headache upon approaching the CORE. This particular day was just one of the more painful ones._

_But it had apparently been enough to make both his co-workers concerned, yet again._

_“it’s not that bad.” The skeleton insisted, slowly rising to his feet. “it just… stings. it’s going away, now.”_

_“It could_ **_still_ ** _inflame! And_ **_then_ ** _what?!” Reno had the decency to keep his voice down to a harsh whisper, in the presence of his ailing friend. “_ **_Then_ ** _you fall into another one of the rifts! Or into a control panel! Or_ **_worse!”_ **

_“Into Sprig’s coffee mug.” Owel said, stonefaced._

_Both Sans and Reno turned to look at her._

_“It qualifies as a Code Black.” She added, flatly._

_Before Sans could even manage a chuckle, the scientist had already rounded on him, eyes narrowed._

_“Look. I get it, kid.” She said. “You’re tired of us fussing about every little thing.”_

_The skeleton faltered a little._

_“But we still need to make sure everything’s okay with you.” Owel said, firmly. “…Now that we know you_ **_can_ ** _interact with the rifts. There’s a lot of new possibilities.”_

 _She stared hard at him, then turned to begin walking across the bridge. “The_ **_second_ ** _you start feeling dizzy or hurt, you let us all know.”_

_Drawing in a breath, Sans nodded._

_“…yes, ma’am.”_

_He fell in line behind her as they crossed the bridge, Reno bringing up the rear. The wind echoed through the abyss below, and the young skeleton found himself staring over the edge, into the darkness._

_Sans couldn’t help but feel a little lightheaded at the sight._

_“why don’t they install railings on these walkways?” He muttered._

_“I’ve lobbied for it so many times.” Reno said from behind him, and Sans didn’t even dare look back at him out of focus for making it across the bridge. “But I was to be cast aside! Disregarded! Laughed at!”_

_“He was too shy to submit his suggestion to the king.” Owel explained, and Sans grinned._

_“it_ **_is_ ** _kinda weird, though.” The skeleton said. “i mean, this place seems more dangerous than the lab we got back in hotland.”_

 _He placed his hands in his lab coat pockets. “ i get that the old lab sorta…_ **_exploded_ ** _, but val could’ve fixed up the CORE apparatus by now. why couldn’t we go back to work on stuff over there?”_

_He found himself yanked into the air by his shoulders, now face level with a sweating Reno._

_“It’s not that simple!” He hissed, wide-eyed in fear. “The CORE fragment apparatus isn’t the_ **_only_ ** _thing that’s had a massive hole ripped through it! Safety precautions had to be taken!”_

_Sans tentatively glanced down to his left, over the edge of the bridge they stood upon. His head started to spin a little at the sight of the dark abyss below._

_“safety precautions, huh?”_

_Reno suddenly seemed to catch onto his discomfort. His fearful expression became stoic, and he promptly tucked Sans under his arm. He hurried to the other side of the bridge to where Owel waited, and promptly set him down._

_“Working with the CORE makeup’s always gonna be messy.” Owel said, as Sans got his bearings. “If we make a mistake, we have to keep it all contained, and let the space heal, you know?”_

_The skeleton blinked. “uh… ‘heal?”_

_Reno crossed his arms, thinking._

_“It’s hard to explain.” He said, before closing his eyes and theatrically placing a hand on his puffed out chest. “If you ask me, it’s like…”_

_His eyes popped open, suddenly bright with pride. “Termites! Eating through a tree!”_

_There was a silence._

_Sans blinked.“uh… termites?”_

_“Yeah, okay, that’s not a bad analogy.” Owel shrugged, before turning to Sans._

_“Wood-eating insects.” She clarified. “They build colonies in wood. They sometimes do a lot of damage - but so long as it’s still rooted, and its system’s intact and getting the energy and nutrients it needs, it’ll live.”_

_She frowned. “But if a termite colony just eats it from the inside-out - just keeps digging until the whole thing hollows out, the tree’ll just die. It’ll collapse. Once it falls, there’s no way to bring it back to life. Even if you plant something in its place, it won’t fix the tree that’s fallen.”_

_Reno stepped forward. “Now, picture_ **_us_ ** _as the termites!” He said, an finger raised._

_The skeleton failed to stop the corner of his mouth twitching at the mental image._

_“…okay.”_

_“We’ve learned over time that the CORE’s makeup sorta makes little rips and tunnels in spacetime.” Owel continued. “So we make sure our experiments don’t add up to much more than a notch. We don’t want to kill the ‘tree.’”_

_Sans frowned, lifting his hands out of his lab coat pockets._

_“… so wait. we’re termites, but just… very gentle termites?”_

_He crossed his arms, recalling the conversation that he and Doctor Gaster had about a week ago, upon first learning of Sans’ ability to leap through rifts._

_“… the doc_ **_did_ ** _say all the tears were connected in a network.” He mumbled._

_“Exactly. ‘Tunnels.’” Owel said, simply. “When the CORE Fragment blew up at the old lab, it created yet another tear in spacetime. If we aggravated it with CORE tests, if we kept hollowing out that particular tunnel, it’d be bad news.”_

_She frowned. “‘Cause if there’s one kind of structural integrity we don’t want to mess with, it’s space-time.”_

_Sans looked back up at her, eye sockets dimming._

_“so… what happens if you guys ‘dig’ too much?”_

_There was a pause._

_“We’ve only had one incident like that.” Reno’s voice was quiet. “I-I was only on janitorial staff at the time.”_

_Sans turned to face him, as the red monster took in a breath._

_“The crew were starting to learn the basic makeup of the CORE. It was early days - e-even with safety protocol, they knew even less about how the element worked…”_

_Reno suddenly straightened his posture, and took a few gliding steps towards the edge of the platform, staring down into the abyss. Sans reflexively reached out in his direction, a little alarmed._

_“The CORE affects the rifts, right?” Owel said, from behind him. “We know they can grow more or less volatile depending on its state. You and the doctor can see them pretty well, but the rest of us need instruments to figure out their presence.”_

_She frowned. “But if perfectly normal monsters like us saw them - well, it’d be bad news.”_

_Sans blinked._

_“… what happened, back then?”_

_There was a silence._

_“There was a rift that managed to_ **_affect our environment._ ** _” Reno said, quietly. “It warped the CORE apparatus…”_

_“… and our old lab blew up.” Owel said, simply. “That was the incident that gave Doctor Gaster his share of the CORE element. And those cracks on his face, to boot.”_

_She glanced down, her expression unusually somber. “He was critically injured, bedridden for months - and the crew wasn’t sure if he was going to make it.”_

_“But he did!” Sans turned to see Reno take a precise and careful step back from the edge of the platform, only then turning to face him. “He absorbed a great amount of CORE energy, just like you. And in a way, because of that - we started to learn of the rifts and how they worked!”_

_His shoulders slumped. “…But we really don’t want to make the same mistake twice. Especially not_ **_that_ ** _one.”_

_“It’s why we have people like you, Reno.” Owel said, goodnaturedly, turning back to Sans before the red monster could fully register the statement._

_The skeleton smiled, then blinked, eye sockets dimming._

_“wait… where_ **_was_ ** _the old lab?” He asked, looking up at his mentor. “i thought you said it was in the CORE?”_

_Reno nodded. “Well, yes. It was.”_

_Owel sighed, looking back at the bridge. Then, she turned back to the CORE entrance and beginning her pace inside._

_“Let me put it this way, kid…” She said, as Sans followed after her._

 

 _“… there wasn’t_ **_always_ ** _an abyss down there.”_

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 **_Pain_ ** _._

 

It pierced through his skull, white hot and crackling. It snatched him from slumber before he was ready to think.

It burst through his mind, leaving it in shambles. The air around him shrieked relentlessly as black rifts materialised all around him. 

He staggered to his feet. A small voice screamed beside him, but he couldn’t focus - he couldn’t _focus_.

It hurt. _It hurt…!_

The wooden floor warmed beneath him. The bridge before him filled with a glowing, blue, rigid pattern. The great, hulking structure across from him glowed a deep red, stretching upwards across the steel with a deep hum that vibrated through the floor.

The light paled to a yellow, then a cold blue.

Blue and yellow…

…his immediate surroundings flickered with them, too - his eye socket crackling loudly. His skull throbbed in pain. A deafening roar assaulted him from all directions.

More rifts of black littered the chasm before the huge building. They grew wider and broader, louder and dark, darker yet darker…

A deep snarl resounded from the beast’s sternum.

He threw back his head and responded with his own cry. A long, loud roar that echoed across the chasm.

 

_Him._

 

He could hear _him_ … hear his _call._

And it _infuriated_ him.

The beast crouched his body in challenge, his skull throbbing in intense pain.

Everywhere. He could hear the call from _everywhere._

The beast stared hard at the black rifts that surrounded him, snarling lowly. He was cornered, but he would not panic.  Everything in the air, the rifts, the roaring - this was unnatural. This was _wrong_.

His gaze dropped to the other side of the bridge, at the building’s lit-up exterior, patterned with blue lights.

His eye socket throbbed in pain.

He wanted… to _stop_ it. He wanted to stop this from happening.

He _needed_ to stop it. 

 

He needed to stop _him._

 

With a snarl, he lunged towards the bridge.

A screech. Something collided into his ribcage, the swiftness knocking him off his feet and onto his side. A weight bore down on his shoulder blade and foreleg, and his gaze rose at the sight of orange, flickering light.

“NOT _YET,_ KNUCKLEHEAD!”

He blinked.

The voice had come from… a scaly, sea-green monster. She was glaring down at him, tersely, before she looked up over at the CORE structure. 

“What the hell…?” She breathed.

The Blaster’s attention was taken by something else, as well. The fish woman was currently hanging from the shoulder blade of a much larger, skeletal beast. 

Another Blaster.

He blinked slowly, in mild confusion. 

 

The _other_ one. 

 

He snarled lowly.

He remembered them from before. They’d been ferocious, angered and _fast._  

Then…

He faltered.

…they’d been weak, tired and helpless.

And now, they had him pinned on his side - and it didn’t take long for him to realise that it was a cautionary gesture rather than one of aggression. The beast was not moving to attack, but they weren’t letting him go anywhere.

Giving an indignant growl, he pushed against the larger Blaster’s strength.

 _< SANS, WAIT A MOMENT!  > _The other beast pushed back, and the Blaster snarled.

 ** _< go…  > _**He growled, insistently. **_< let… go… >_**

The other beast suddenly drew back slightly, startled.  
****

_< S-SANS…?  >_

The Blaster pushed against the taller beast again, with the full knowledge that he could easily shove them away. The other beast was taller. But _he_ was _stronger._

But… 

But he couldn’t do that.

The beast shook his head, SOUL thrumming in focus. The weight pushing down on his side felt very similar to the weight he’d once carried on his back.

No, he couldn’t push them away. The other one was _younger._ Weaker. They were hurt. _He’d_ been hurt.

Needed to protect him.

The Blaster stared up at the other, focusing hard. 

No… he needed to _reason_ with him. 

 ** _< need to go…  > _**He trilled, the haze starting to lift. ** _ < need to… make him stop… >_**  
****

The taller Blaster blinked, glancing away from him and up at the massive, steel structure. The fish woman turned to look over her shoulder, giving a shrug towards someone out of view.  
****

The taller Blaster’s eye sockets suddenly flickered with orange light, and he spun back to the pinned Blaster, the light vanishing abruptly.

 _< YOU’RE NOT GOING ALONE.  > _He replied, stressing each word slowly and carefully. His gaze was stern. _< I CAN… I CAN HEAR HIM, TOO. BUT YOU NEED TO SNAP OUT OF IT!  >_

He stared hard at the smaller Blaster, his expression faltering.

_< …WE NEED TO WORK TOGETHER, REMEMBER?  >_

There was a silence. 

The beast drew in a shaking breath, his anger and caginess slowly releasing its hold. He looked up at the other Blaster, with a weak, disarming growl.

 **_< … i _ ** _kn_ **_ow…_ ** _ >_

Blinking hard, he felt the energy in his eye socket diminish. He shook his head hard, his skull aching a little at the the movement. The roaring began to die down, the black streaks in the air slowly fading away.

Sans took in a deep breath, looking up wearily at Papyrus.

 _< … i know, bro.  > _He said, quietly. _ < lemme up. >_

Papyrus withdrew instantly, visible relief on his features as Sans rolled back onto his sternum. His skull was pounding too much for him to stand for now, so he settled for keeping his head upon the cooling floor.

Undyne leapt off Papyrus’ shoulder, marching towards Sans’ side and snapping her fingers next to his eye socket.

“Hey. _Hey.”_ Her voice was stern. “Can you hear me? You all there?”

Sans quietly growled at her, eye sockets narrowing a bit in irritation. Then, he froze, suddenly glancing up at Papyrus.

Two lights were present within his brother’s eye sockets, this time. 

A deep crack was still present on his brother’s face, but his shattered eye socket had reformed. _Healed_.

His irritation evaporating, Sans glanced back at the captain, blinking slowly.

 _< uh, yeah…  > _He said, with a small nod. _< i’m all here.  >_

Papyrus lowered his head to face him, frowning.

 _< WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?  > _He asked. _< YOUR EYE SOCKET WAS FLASHING, AGAIN.  >_

Groaning, Sans shut the aching eye socket. He could feel the residual energy crackling within it - but it was slowly settling down.

 _< … right now, it’s givin’ me a world of pain.  > _He growled, slowly daring to lift his head up to face his brother. _< …what just happened?  >_

_“F-Frisk?”_

Everyone turned in the direction of Alphys’ shaking voice. The scientist was still inside the exit hall of the MTT Resort, hovering over the small human.

At a first glance, Frisk lay very still.

Suddenly alert, and his head screaming in protest, Sans hurriedly and clumsily pulled himself to his feet. The child was curled up on the carpeted floor, shaking and breathing in short, pained gasps. 

The horrifying thought that he may have _trampled_ on the human crossed his mind - just when Frisk slowly started to push themself up with shaking hands.

Sans was startled by Papyrus suddenly hurrying forward to the MTT Resort entrance with a yelp.

_< FRISK! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?  >_

The human was slowly easing themself up into a sitting position, but they seemed to be struggling. Alphys slowly took them by the shoulders and guided them so that they were sitting up against the wall. 

“Frisk! W-what happened?” She asked. “Are you hurt?”

The child shook their head. “S-sorry.” They wheezed, grasping at their chest. “I-It was just a shock… it’s going away, now…”

Sans slowly approached, eyes trained on them. They didn’t look injured. Just stunned.

“I-I’m fine. I’ll be okay.” Frisk’s breathing was evening out. “It just… really hurt.”

Undyne frowned. “Don’t think chest pains are a good sign for humans, right?” She dropped off of Papyrus’ shoulder and landed in a crouch. “Lemme see for a bit.”

As the captain knelt before the child, Papyrus backed away, giving a low whine.

 _< FRISK… I’M SO SORRY. I SAID YOU WOULDN’T BE SHOCKED AGAIN.  >_ He said, softly. Sans glanced over at him, blinking.

_Shocked…_

_< … you think _**_that’s_** _what it was? > _The Blaster asked, recalling Frisk’s ‘SAVE’ dilemma from earlier. Papyrus didn’t seem to hear him, looking around the area with a frown.

 _< WHAT COULD HAVE CAUSED IT?  > _He pondered. _ <THEY COULDN’T HAVE BEEN TRYING TO USE THEIR SPECIAL HUMAN POWER WHILE THEY WERE ASLEEP! >_

His eye sockets narrowed. _< THEY WERE ONLY IN PAIN WHEN THE BLACK RIFTS APPEARED…  >_

Sans blinked. 

 _< _ **_wait._ ** _ >_

His tone must have caught his brother’s attention, because Papyrus looked back at him, startled. Sans’ eye sockets had gone black.

 _< _ **_what_ ** _did you just say? >_

His brother stared. At any other time, Papyrus would have chastised him for not listening.

 _< “THEY WERE ONLY IN PAIN WHEN THE BLACK RIFTS APPEARED.”  >_ He recounted, the inflections a little forced. 

Sans’ sternum grew tight.

_< … you guys saw them, too?  >_

_< OF COURSE WE DID!  > _Papyrus said, blinking. _< THEY WERE A LITTLE HARD TO MISS! THOUGH I SUPPOSE THEY CAME AND WENT SO QUICKLY…  >_

Sans’ eye sockets regained their light. He looked over at the CORE facility.

_< SANS?  >_

What the hell was going on in there?

Was the doctor _really_ that far gone?

Sans felt his eye socket crackle and he winced, opting to shut it. His surroundings flickered briefly with blue and yellow, and he gave a low snarl.  
****

_< … dammit, doc.  >_ He breathed.

“…Is that your CORE eye?”

It was Alphys’ voice that reached him first, and he wearily looked up at her. She stood up straight, a hand still on Frisk’s shoulder.

“Th-the one that was… a-affected by the CORE Fragment explosion.” She clarified, focused in spite of her stutter.

Sans gave a nod, his eye sockets half-lidded.

Heh. Right. This was common knowledge, now.

Undyne frowned, walking over to him and reaching over at his skull. Her hand lit up with glowing green magic.

“What the heck’s happening to you guys?” She muttered. “One second, everything’s fine, and the next - ”

The magic left a cooling sensation on his aching skull, and Sans leaned a little into the captain’s touch, seeking any kind of relief from the pain.

“Just one thing after another, now.” Undyne muttered. “What the hell’s going on, around here?”

“Th-the CORE.” 

The group turned to look at Alphys. Sans let himself relax a little.

That was a relief. The Royal Scientist had done her homework.

“E-everything’s gone wrong!” She clenched her fists. “The CORE shouldn’t even be activated! E-even if it didn’t p-properly deactivate, i-it wasn’t strong or stable enough to power the facility! The fact that it’s trying to maintain a constant power output _now_ c-could mean…”

She paled. “I-it could mean a lot of destruction.”

Undyne blinked, withdrawing her hand from Sans’ skull.

“Hey, wait a sec. The knucklehead said something about the CORE being the thing that’s letting Gaster stay in this reality. The ‘anchor,’ and all that.”

She glanced back over to Sans, who nodded.

“Th-that’s right. The CORE is the reason why Gaster m-made it here in the first place.” Alphys said, tersely. “Changes in the C-CORE’s condition might… _sever_ the anchor he’s made, b-but…”

Alphys looked up at Undyne.

“There’s something weird. R-remember. When was the _last_ time you saw black rifts like those!?”

Undyne blinked, frowning. Then, her face paled.

“…The security footage.” She recounted. “When the CORE was… unstable.”

The skeleton brothers shared a look.

 _< ‘hollowed out,’ huh?  > _Sans muttered to himself.

Papyrus blinked. _< I’M SORRY?  >_

 _< the core’s messing with space. it’s digging into places it shouldn’t.  > _He glanced up at Papyrus. _ < this could all end… catastrophically. and i hope alphys and i are _**_wrong_** _about that. >_

Papyrus drew back, then spun to the structure.

 _< …WHAT’S HE TRYING TO DO IN THERE?  > _He said, frowning. _< HE WORKED IN THIS PLACE IN THE PAST, RIGHT? SURELY HE MUST KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THIS IS!  >_

 _< beats me.  >_ Sans said, slowly. Then, he glanced back at his brother. _< i’m not sure if he knows what he’s doing, nowadays.  >_

“W-we have to move… quickly.” Alphys caught their attention, wringing her claws. “If Gaster is messing around with the CORE, then it could mean horrible things for us! A-and we might not have a lot of time!”

The group all turned to face the looming, blue-lit facility. 

Some of the exterior lights flickered, briefly.

“Guess it’s now or never, huh?” Undyne muttered, crossing her arms. “Even if we tried to get help first, that freaking building’s all that’s in the way of the Surface, now.”

“B-But what about Frisk?!” Alphys looked back at the human, who was slowly approaching. “They don’t seem like…W-well, they were hurt, right?”

Undyne turned to face her. “Well, so was Sans. But I don’t like the idea of any of us being separated, right now.” She said, frankly. 

Frisk waved their hands, abruptly. 

“I told you guys, it’s okay!” They said, blinking. “It shouldn’t be a problem.”

Sans frowned. He wasn’t so sure about that.

He stepped in front of the human, rumbling softly. Frisk didn’t falter at his gaze.

“Being left alone might be a bad idea.” They said, their face set into stony determination.

Alphys frowned. “Th-that’s true. I know, I know…” She sighed, wringing her claws. “J-Just… be careful.” She pulled the human to her side by the hand, and Frisk smiled measuredly up at her.

Sans sighed.

 _< … just stay behind us, kid.  > _He muttered, turning to follow Undyne across the CORE bridge. _ < i’m starting to get fond of ya. >_

The small group meandered over the bridge in silence. Sans and Papyrus went one at a time, still nervous at the idea of it collapsing under their weight. The older skeleton refused to look down, sweat beading on his skull.

When they reached the other side, they were faced with a blast door. The CORE entrance had been barricaded by Alphys upon their retreat to the resort. It hadn’t budged in the few hours they’d spent recuperating. That was a small mercy.

Sans stepped forward, up to the entrance.

“O-okay.” Alphys said, sternly. “I-I managed to program this door to be immune to any kind of override.” She began to approach with a summoned screwdriver. “I-It might take a little while, but I’m sure I’ll be able to - ”

There was a screeching of metal, as Sans dug his claw into the base of the door. It crumpled under his strength like cardboard, and he ripped it out with a decisive tug, sparks flying from the damaged machinery.

“O-or that. We could do that.” Alphys said, dismissing the screwdriver.

Checking to see that nobody was in the way, Sans dug his claw in the wrecked door and shoved it out of the way, off the edge of the CORE entrance’s platform. It fell soundlessly into the abyss. 

He tried not to think too much about the silence.

Undyne stepped in front of him, her hands crackling slightly with cyan energy. Sans followed after her, ducking his head under the CORE entrance doorframe.

And blinked.

The CORE interior, in contrast to the facility’s exterior, was pitch black. It was dimly lit by the circuit boards embedded in the steel wall on either side of the elevator. 

Both sides of the room led off to different halls, to deep into the facility. 

“… alright, stay back.” Undyne muttered, quietly. “I don’t like this.”

Papyrus had just joined Sans at his side, glancing back at Alphys and Frisk, who were at his tail. The scientist was keeping Frisk behind her, the human glancing briefly over their shoulder at the MTT Resort. 

The small group remained still as Undyne summoned a spear, further illuminating the room.

Sans was about to step forward, when a low electric hum suddenly sounded. It rose in volume quickly, and the skeleton suddenly felt a bristle of hostility and revulsion.

The room flickered with orange and blue, as Sans and Papyrus both froze in alarm, their eye sockets responding to a threat that only the mutagen could sense.

 

_< …do you -  >_

_< … HEAR THAT?  > _

 

Undyne spun at the sight of the orange and blue flickering lights - startled at first, but then her face screwed into intense focus.

“ABOVE YOU!!”

It happened too quickly for them to register in the darkness.

There was a scream. And there was the blurred image of Alphys being flung across the room and impacting hard against the steel wall to the side, the red of Undyne’s hair darting in her direction - and a surge of white skeletal hands lunging down from the shadows of the ceiling.

Towards Sans.

The sight of the open holed palms nearly made the beast flinch, but he was snapped back into action as they suddenly darted for a very different target. 

He’d hesitated too long.

Sans heard another cry. The streak of a blue and magenta sweater being yanked upwards appeared out of the corner of his eyesocket.

And Frisk was suddenly dangling in the air, several metres in front of them, suspended in air by the back of their sweater. And the hands were withdrawing back into the blackness of the ceiling. 

And a familiar, dark figure was suddenly looming behind the child, descending from his waiting place on the ceiling with his many arms like a spider, holding Frisk directly before him as one would a shield.

Sans felt something inside him - part of his SOUL - react in a way that made his head lower, made his spines bristle like hackles raised, and made his claws dig into the steel floor.

_<   . . . T h i s   a i n ‘ t   f u n n y ,  d o c . > _

The growl was low and direct, and he could feel even Papyrus’ tension at his side. The other Blaster made no noise, but the taller beast was poised to dash forward, his head held high, his gaze focused.

Undyne stood protectively before the dazed Alphys, her eye trained on Gaster. She had yet to summon any spears, but her hands crackled with cyan energy.

**_NOW, NOW._ **

Frisk twisted in the doctor’s grasp, only for two palms to suddenly slam firmly on either side of their face. Sans felt the fire in his throat burn as the hands turned the child’s head to face Gaster directly.

**_I’M IN THE PROCESS OF FORMULATING A HYPOTHESIS. AND I NEED THEIR HELP._ **

Sans heard a low growl sound to his left.  
****

_< I DON’T BELIEVE THAT’S TRUE.  >_ Papyrus said, an unfamiliar roughness to his voice. _< RETURN FRISK TO US. PLEASE.  > _He added, the politeness seemingly tacked on as an afterthought.

Gaster quirked a brow.

**_I DON’T REQUIRE MUCH OF THEM. JUST ASKING A SIMPLE QUESTION._ **

His eye sockets narrowed, keeping Frisk situated directly in all four monsters’ line of fire.  
****

**_AND THEY NEED TO ANSWER AS ACCURATELY AS THEY CAN._ **  
****

Sans watched as the doctor slowly looked down to face the child, a grin splitting across his features.

**_NOW, FRISK…_ **

 

 

**_…WHEN DID YOU LAST ‘SAVE?’_ **

 

 


	29. A Rush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a year since I've started writing Spectrum, now. That's pretty bloody incredible.  
> For the occasion, I've decided to mix it up, a bit. This isn't a full chapter yet, more something that will be added to over time. It's a format more easily achievable on Tumblr (where this fic is also posted) - but I didn't want to leave anyone at AO3 hanging.
> 
> All I can say, guys, is thank you so much for reading this. Thank you for the kudos, the comments, heck even just poking your head in here to check out said fic. I really appreciate it. : )
> 
> In the meantime, I hope you guys enjoy what I've got planned. 
> 
> 'Cause something's a little different, this time around.

 

 

**_A RUSH - END_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the comic completed! Stay tuned for more wordy stuff from here on out. : )
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


	30. A Core

 

_“DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!! KEEP MOVING!!”_

 

There was a flash of orange.

Small, metal modes arranged in a row along the blue steel wall sparked, humming to life in the presence of two large skeletal beasts rushing past.

Searing and humming beams of energy shot out from each node - through their bones. The Blasters felt their heat as they ran - yet they didn’t stop, nor attempt to dodge.

Stopping only made ORANGE attacks actually _hurt_ , after all.

The lasers passed through them, and Sans, Papyrus and Undyne continued down the corridor, unharmed.

The place was a deathtrap. The lit-up circuitry that lined the halls streaked by the trio in patterns of blue. They were led on through the labyrinth by a faint trail of small, white scratches on steel. They could be glimpsed on the walls, the floor, the ceiling.

But the scrapes of bony fingers weren’t the only thing Gaster had left in his wake.

Lasers activated at their approach, armed by the doctor in his retreat. They’d become such a frequent obstacle during their brief time charging down the corridor that dodging had become second-nature to them.

Electric fields activated, and both Blasters would shoot the side-panel mechanisms, causing them to fizzle out. Streaks of orange light would bar the way - and the trio simply moved through them. Blue lasers would shoot at them, and they’d screech to a halt until they passed through them. And the nodes that shot blue lasers aiming to keep the crew fixed in place were quickly dealt with by Undyne’s spears.

The halls were constricting. Almost claustrophobic. Sans’ larger frame barely gave him room to run. He’d occasionally feel his spines scrape against the ceiling.

He followed behind Papyrus, whose thinner frame had blessed him with more agility.

Sans heard Undyne shouting out commands with each approaching obstacle. Dodge left. Dodge right. Jump. Duck…

The captain was perched on the side of Papyrus’ ribcage, holding the side of his right scapula. She was throwing spears in each forward direction - annihilating the smaller and trickier turrets and laser nodes that their own blasts weren’t precise enough to hit.

“KEEP IT UP!” She roared, unleashing another barrage of spears. “WE'RE MAKING HEADWAY!!”

It was a flurry of light and noise and speed and _stress._ It was something that would have set off the mutagen’s influence, in the past.

Sans couldn’t even tell if it was affecting him, now.

His body seemed to work on autopilot. The less he thought, the faster he moved. He ran in almost a numb haze, focusing on what was directly before him.

It wasn’t long before the smell of ozone brought him back to the present.

The halls finally opened up into the railed, purple steel walkways over the deep, dark abyss. The steel towers reached upwards from the darkness, the nodes at the very top blinking red.

Sans felt his sternum tighten.

They were coming up to the inner CORE facility.

He’d never doubted that they would make it this far to begin with. Whether he appreciated his and Papyrus’ new forms or not, they definitely had the speed and firepower to traverse the armed CORE.

Sans’ features twisted into a snarl.

But they were just too _slow_.

He couldn’t voice it aloud. Papyrus and Undyne wouldn’t hear it. And Sans _himself_ didn’t want to hear it. These guys had momentum, and for everyone’s sake, he wasn’t going to slow it. Not anymore.

And in spite of his concerns, Sans knew that he couldn’t underestimate Frisk and Alphys.

The kid had gotten out of tighter scrapes than this one, that was for sure. And Al hadn’t gained the title of Royal Scientist out of sheer luck - she had more than a few tricks up her sleeve.

No. Sans couldn’t underestimate them.

He just couldn’t underestimate Gaster, either.

The doctor wasn’t… ‘healthy,’ as Papyrus had described. While in some ways it could make the doctor incapable, it didn’t make him any less dangerous. And at the rate he’d left the group after Frisk and Alphys had escaped in the elevator, Gaster would beat the trio to the kid.

 

And _then_ what?

 

Sans frowned, slamming on the brakes as a blue laser shot through him. Three more followed and passed, and he hurried onward, unharmed.

 

—

 

**_“WHEN DID YOU LAST SAVE?”_ **

 

—

 

 _ < what the _ **_hell_ ** _do you mean, doc? > _ He growled under his breath.

Sans would have chalked it up to madness if he hadn’t heard Gaster explicitly ask a second time.

He knew what he heard. And he was fairly certain about what the doctor had intended.

It had been enough to make Sans charge forward. To do _what_ , he hadn’t been sure - but every fibre of his being had wanted to make Gaster _stop._

When _had_ the kid last saved? Things were a little different now, compared to Frisk's journey through the Underground. Not to mention, the kid SAVED involuntarily - and they'd been having trouble with that, lately. They'd made a promise to never to abuse their power - and in spite of everything, Frisk wasn't the type to go back on their word.

But if Frisk was _forced_ to go back, where would that leave them all?

The Blaster thought hard.

Nobody but Frisk would remember the lurch in time. Sans had some awareness - it came with the CORE element in his eyesocket - but only Frisk would have any vivid memories of these actions.

So, where did Gaster benefit? 

 

What exactly did Gaster know about SAVING in general? It was fair to say he’d had _some_ means of observation from the Void… but to what extent? What information did the doctor have at his disposal?

A flash of pain buzzed through Sans' skull, startling him out of his thoughts. He dipped his head with a pained snarl. His eye socket buzzed with energy.

 

_< grgh...  >_

Heh. Every time. The CORE affected his eye socket every time he approached.

 

...

The CORE element in his eyesocket.

Sans found himself thinking hard. The image of Gaster, his eyelights flashing between green and violet, returned to memory.

The Blaster’s eye sockets flickered blue.

 

An _awareness_... 

 

 

“HOLD UP!!”

Sans was snapped out of his thoughts as Undyne’s voice rang through his ears. He dug his claws into the steel floor with a loud, metallic screech.

Papyrus had a harder time slamming on the brakes. His back legs swerved around to the left as he turned, blinking as the three stared down a turnoff to a more enclosed hall.

Sans blinked, startled.

Huh. They'd made it was the hall to the CORE’s interior facility - the main CORE chamber.

The last time he’d seen this place, he’d been dangling from his position slung over Undyne’s shoulder.

 _ < UNDYNE?! > _ Papyrus had been startled by the sudden turn, glancing up at the captain on his shoulder. _ < IS THIS THE RIGHT WAY? > _

Once again, Sans noted that Undyne couldn't understand Papyrus verbally. But she must had picked up on the Blaster’s confusion.

She pointed at the floor.

“Take a look, Pap! Trail’s going this way, too!”

Sans looked down.

A bead of sweat appeared on his skull.

The blue steel was littered with small scratch marks, the kind that only bony fingers left behind. The trail was headed down to the CORE interior, the entrance still lined with melted steel from a day-old Blaster shot.

But there were also markings all over the route towards the facility’s end. And another path off of a turnoff, further down and across a walkway.

The tracks led in every direction. There was no way to tell if he’d been coming or going.

 _ < ... GASTER WAS AFTER FRISK AND ALPHYS, WASN’T HE? > _ Papyrus took a step towards the facility’s end, tail raised.

Sans thought a moment, staring down the hall to the CORE interior. The rifts, violent and unstable, returned to mind.

 _ < there’s no way he’d leave the CORE unguarded for long. > _He said. _ < and we can’t let him mess with the place any more than he already has. > _

_ < … BUT WE CAN’T LEAVE OUR FRIENDS ON THEIR OWN! > _

Sans turned to face his brother, who’d raised his head, his expression stern.

_ < GASTER WAS AFTER FRISK!! WE CAN’T LET HIM CATCH THEM ALONE!! > _

Sans’ tail twitched. 

 _ < maybe. > _ He said, lowering his head. _ < but if gaster keeps messin’ with the CORE, he’ll tear this place to shreds before we can _ **_escape_** _. if we get to the controls first, we got a better chance of saving 'em. we should head on_ **_this_ ** _way. > _

His patience beginning to run out, Papyrus gave a small growl, looking back down the hall to the facility’s end.

_ < ... I'M STILL WORRIED FOR THEM. >_

With a nod, he began to trot forward.

_< WE SHOULD SPLIT UP!!  > _

A blue flicker of light filled the halls, as something unexpectedly snapped in Sans.

He found himself suddenly dashing forward, blocking a startled Papyrus' path with a deep snarl.

 _ < _ **_not_ ** _happenin’, bro. > _

Papyrus stepped back, before giving a small growl in response.

 _ < SANS, WE CAN COVER MORE GROUND THIS WAY! > _ he said, firmly. _< WE’RE WASTING TIME JUST STANDING HERE, BICKERING!!  > _

Sans’ spines grew rigid, like hackles raised.

_< you're **not** going alone, bro.  >_

Papyrus huffed. _ < I WON'T BE, YOU BONEHEAD! UNDYNE WILL BE WITH ME! >_

Sans shook his head, his eyesockets flickering again at the memory of the captain being knocked off his brother's back - moments before he'd been blasted directly in the skull.

_< not **good** enough. this ain't a point of debate. we're not splittin' up.  >_

Papyrus gave a deep snarl. _< SANS, STOP BEING UNREASONABLE!! WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO -  >_

 

 _< i’m _ **_not_ ** _gonna let you face him_ **_without_ ** _me - >_

 

Sans stopped short.

Papyrus’ eye sockets grew wide.

The halls were flickering the faintest bit blue - and Sans suddenly realized it was coming from him. He shut his eye sockets, shaking his head.

_ < i-i’m not… > _

His rage subsided, replaced with shame. His tail curled inward.

_< i…  >_

Fear, passive but chilling, had swamped him.

It wasn’t just the mutagen, he knew. He almost wished it was. But he knew the mutagen was just aggravating what was already _there_.

… He just wasn’t being _fair._

_ < … SANS? > _

Sans didn’t look back at Papyrus. But his brother’s voice wasn’t angry, nor was it surprised.

Just _worried._

There was a brief silence.

And then, he suddenly felt a firm, muscular hand grab his side horn.

He gave a startled yowl and Papyrus yelped as Undyne slammed both their skulls together, side-on.

 _“THAT WASN’T YOUR CUE TO START GROWLING AT EACH OTHER, YOU KNUCKLEHEADS!!”_ The captain roared, perched with one foot upon each of their collided skulls.

Both glanced up at her, dizzy.

 _< sorry, cap.  >_ Sans mumbled (and he pretty firmly meant it).

 _< HE STARTED IT.  >_ Papyrus trilled, blinking dazedly.

"YOU GUYS GET YOUR MESS SORTED BEFORE GASTER BLOWS UP THE UNDERGROUND!!" Undyne snarled at them both. "OUR FRIENDS ARE IN DANGER AND I’M NOT LETTING YOU GUYS STOP US ANY - ”

 

A buzz.

 

 

An electronic screech.

Sans' eyesockets grew dark.

A cacophony tore through the halls as the air ripped open around them, once more. Black square particles spilled out of the violently roaring rifts.

The pain hit Sans’ skull once more and he gave a yowl. Undyne released her grip, gritting her teeth at the sight of the rifts.

“Dammit,” she whispered, looking towards the facility’s end. Then, she turned to the main interior.

“I’VE DECIDED!” Undyne yelled over the din. “WE’RE GOING TO THE CORE!! WE'LL STOP GASTER BEFORE HE MAKES ALL THIS WORSE!!”

Sans staggered under the pain, focusing as hard as he could on walking. His skull throbbed, and he nearly buckled to the floor.

Teeth sank into what remained of his hood, and he was pulled upright by Papyrus. He guided Sans along for a few moments, releasing him when the Blaster had found his footing.

Sans had been ready for the shock, this time. His mind guarded against the mutagen’s kneejerk reaction - he focused on  _moving._ One foot after the other. He soon broke into a run, and Sans wasn't sure if it was instinct or just wanting to get away from the noise, or the pain. He followed the blurred shape of Papyrus, who'd remained mostly at his side. They both dodged and weaved past the blurred black rifts, down the hall.

Sans could barely hear Papyrus, calling for him. He couldn't make out what he was saying - and any attempt to call back sounded slurred. His beastly language had failed from the strain and Sans chose to put all his energy into just moving forward, head low.

He’d been close to losing consciousness when the rifts finally vanished, and the dim halls around him were bathed in a purple light. His pace slowed, and he staggered to a stop.

He remained standing on shaking legs, concerned that if he dropped to the floor here, he wouldn't want to wake up.

A hand landed on his skull, and he flinched at first with a wary snarl. But the familiar sensation of Undyne's healing magic calmed him instantly.

< ... not on the forehead, cap. > He mumbled, wearily. His hearing slowly returned and his blurred vision came back into focus. Papyrus’ features swam into view, face to face with him. A stern Undyne was perched on his snout and reaching Sans from there.

Papyrus hovered in front of him, his expression screwed up in worry.

 _ < SANS! ARE YOU ALRIGHT? TALK TO ME!! OR JUST GROWL! > _ His expression fiercened. _ < ONE FOR YES AND TWO FOR NO! > _

Sans managed a single growl, blinking rapidly as his eye socket deactivated. Undyne withdrew her hand, glancing over her shoulder with a grimace.

“Here we are.” She muttered.

Sans returned to full awareness, and his sternum tightened.

The hall had opened up before them at last.

It spit in two, going circular around the central CORE chamber. Reinforced glass windows allowed the trio a clear look into the churning ball of energy within.

Everything was bathed in deep violet. The grimy green tiles, the worn blue steel - everything had been washed out by the CORE’s aura.

Sans stepped forward.

 

 _ < alright. > _ He said, wearily.

 

_ < let’s keep moving. > _

 

* * *

 

 

On the other side of the facility, Frisk stood very still.

Their ears were still ringing. The phone still hummed and buzzed, static rising from the receiver in their shaking hand.

 

* * *

 

**_HE WILL DESTROY YOU._ **

 

* * *

 

 

Their features were screwed up in focus at the device - but they couldn’t deny the fact that their body was still trembling from the voice that had all but _screamed_ into their ears moments ago.

They now held the device before them at a greater distance, frowning.

 

* * *

 

**_OVER AND OVER…_ **

 

* * *

 

 

“F-Frisk?”

 

The human started, looking back over at Alphys. She was standing a few feet away. She’d gone very pale, her face betraying outright fear rather than nervousness.

Nevertheless, she stepped forward.

“A-are you okay?”

Frisk glanced back at the phone. The voice had not spoken again - but the ominous buzzing left them on-edge.

“I… I think so?” They said, looking back at the scientist.

Alphys’ approached, staring directly at the phone in the human’s grasp.

“W-who… who _was_ that?” She asked, shakily. “I-I-I thought…”

She drew in a breath, managing to trade her panic for reason as she looked around.

“... th-this is the _CORE_ .” She said, her voice growing firm. “I-I may have upgraded your phone somewhat, b-but… with the CORE active, th-there shouldn’t be _any_ signals getting though!”

Frisk looked down at the phone, frowning.

If they remembered correctly, Gaster had been interfering all this time, as well.

“I didn’t even dial anything,” they muttered. “It didn’t even ring.”

Alphys shook her head. “… w-we really don’t have time to think on this much longer! We need to stabilise the CORE!” She looked back over at the bridge. “U-Undyne and the others can’t keep Gaster at bay forever!”

 

**_YOU’RE RIGHT._ **

 

Frisk jolted at the voice that once again buzzed through the receiver.

The voice had softened considerably. It still had a sternness to it, but it wasn’t blasting out their eardrums like before.

**_GASTER HAS BYPASSED THEM. HE SEEKS YOU, HUMAN._ **

There was a pause.

**_COME JOIN ME. I WILL KEEP YOU SAFE._ **

Frisk was startled to see the phone vanish before their eyes. They blinked, before realizing the Alphys had swiped the device with lightning speed.

“L-l-listen here!” The scientist said, pointing an accusatory finger at the speaker. “W-we don’t have a lot of time before the Underground could implode! H-How do we know we can trust you?”

The whirr of machinery sounded.

Frisk’s attention was taken by the distant sounds of mechanisms and bolts sliding and hissing. The sounds came from across the walkway, from deeper within the labyrinthine facility.

The mechanisms seemed to be progressing towards them. Blast doors were sliding open, and then shut. Lasers deactivated, and then reactivated. These sounds were only getting louder, as the activity seemed to progress towards their position.

Frisk stepped back from the bridge.

The voice, eerie and distorted, filtered through the receiver in Alphys’ shaking claw.

 

**_YOU HAVE NO CHOICE._ **

 

Frisk spun and rushed back towards the elevator, automatically swiping the phone out of Alphys’ grasp. The scientist, startled, overtook the human and reached the control panel on the wall.

She hammered the ‘Back’ button. The doors didn’t budge.

“W-what?!” She hurriedly hit it a few more times. “N-No! It was working just fine a second ago!!”

As the scientist summoned a screwdriver to her side, Frisk spun back to face the bridge, clutching the phone in their hands.

Amongst all that sound was the familiar cacophony of click-click-clicking of stampeding skeletal hands atop a steel floor, getting closer, and closer.

“Alphys…” Frisk whispered.

They felt a tug on their arm as they were suddenly pulled over to the brightly decorated CORE Exit. Frisk saw the screwdriver vanish in Alphys’ grasp, sweat beading on her forehead.

“N-no time to fix it!! W-we need to hide!”

Frisk pocketed their phone as the two began to dash down the darkened corridor.

They emerged into a black-plated room, their footsteps clanging on the steel. Frisk noted a few abandoned stage lights in the corner, briefly recognising the place as where Mettaton EX had made his debut.

Alphys looked around. “I-it’s dark… M-maybe we should try hiding here…”

Frisk blinked. “Wait… there’s another elevator up ahead, isn’t there?”

The scientist glanced towards the next room, frowning.

“I-It’s dark over there.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “The power’s out. It’s n-not exactly part of the CORE p-power circuit…”

She glanced over her shoulder, back from where they came, slowly backing away from the door.

Frisk stepped back with her, grasping the front of their sweater.

“… b-but it’s a part of this building, isn’t it?!”

Alphys kept her eyes fixed on the door. The mechanisms were getting louder.

“N-no. I-it branches off the underground Lab.” She whispered shakily. “I-It also branches out t-to New Home…”

Frisk blinked.

Sans’ semi-Blaster visage returned to their memory, his clawed fingers fiddling with the machinery in the darkness of the True Lab.

 

* * *

 

_“How many times have you been down here?” Frisk asked._

_“not enough times to care about counting.” The skeleton shrugged. He stood up, slamming the power generator panel shut._

_“alrighty. we got about 24 hours of juice left on this thing. used sparingly, of course.”_

 

* * *

 

 

Frisk grabbed Alphys by the arm, dragging her towards the darkness of the next room.

“F-Frisk?!”

How long had it been since then?

The next room was plated with the familiar blue steel of the CORE facility. However, unlike the rest of the facility, it was dimly-lit. The only source of light was a deep red blinking, coming from the other end of the hall.

“I-I… huh?!”

Alphys looked at Frisk, wide-eyed. “I-It’s active?! I thought…”

Regaining her confidence, the scientist darted ahead, and Frisk spotted the other pair of elevator doors, rapidly approaching.

“This was our Plan A!” Frisk rose their voice to a shout-whisper. “We had to scrap it - but there should still be power left!”

“Th-This is… this is great!” Alphys said as the elevator doors slid open at their approach, her voice hushed despite her excitement. “It’s still here from when I last used it!”

Both darted in. Frisk took a tentative glance over their shoulder, seeing nothing down the hall.

The elevator doors shut, as Alphys hammered in the button to New Home.

She backed away from the doors. The elevator cabin trembled a little as it moved, the machine humming as it rose upwards.

Frisk and Alphys breathed out a sigh.

“Th-that was close…”

 

**_BRACE YOURSELVES._ **

 

They were both startled to hear the voice seep out of the speaker once more.

 **_BRACE YOURSELVES._ ** It said, again. **_PLEASE. YOU NEED TO STAY LOW._ **

Frisk removed the phone from their pocket, hesitantly. They stared hard at it, as static began to buzz through the speaker again.

Then, a loud and terrible screech echoed through the shaft as the air ripped open around them, once more.

The black rifts were back - and louder than ever.

Alphys jumped. “Frisk!!”

The human buckled to the floor, clutching their chest.

The red of their SOUL glimmered through their sweater briefly, and they opened an eye, drawing in a shaking breath.

“I-It’s okay.” They murmured.

It was the truth. The pain wasn’t as intense as last time. But they felt strange. Weakened.

It was as if they were being steadily ripped away from something much greater.

Frisk’s gaze rose, startled when a black rift floated down from the cabin ceiling. They clambered back against the wall, watching as the rift sank through the elevator floor.

It looked like the rifts were still fixed in place - it was just the elevator carriage moving past them.

It was a mere few seconds before the elevator suddenly lurched. A whine of metal sounded, before the cabin suddenly stopped in its ascent.

Alphys stumbled back, as the loud roar of a nearby rift assailed their senses. She looked up, ashen-faced as yet another rift tore open the air above them.

It began to rip, further and futher along. It started to grow bigger. Noisier.

The ceiling, unaffected at first, began to warp in its presence. The sound of crumpling steel filled their ears.

Frisk felt Alphys pull them to her side. A shield of yellow electricity surrounded them both, forming a protective bubble.

“S-Stay close.”

Frisk pocketed their phone, eyes remaining on the ceiling.

“The CORE…” They whispered.

Alphys began to hunch her shoulders, a bead of sweat forming on her forehead as the ceiling warped to the point where a strained groan of metal echoed through the elevator shaft.

Frisk barely made out the sound of a SNAP as the rifts suddenly vanished.

The elevator rocked. There was a horrible screech, as the carriage suddenly slid down, having lost the support of the elevator tether.

The room was lit in a dim red.

Frisk felt themselves start to float - free-falling in the elevator itself.

The human was too startled to even scream during the fall. The scientist suddenly grabbed them by the shoulders and hugged them close, and Frisk noted her form starting to spark with electricity as her eyes squeezed shut in focus, the shield growing brighter and brighter.

Everything was bright and loud and fast and Frisk only had time to draw in a breath before it was instantly knocked out of them as the elevator impacted hard on the shock absorbers.

The yellow bubble shield bounced _hard_ off the floor - then the ceiling, then off the walls of the elevator, ricocheting every which way of the deteriorating structure, leaving behind dents.

When the elevator doors finally swept open, the two finally bounced out, the shield dissolving and sending them both sprawling across the tiled floor.

The yellow of Alphys’ electric magic briefly illuminated the gloom of the True Lab, before sparking out.

Frisk raised their head off the grimy tiles with a groan.

Their arm throbbed even more now, and they probably had another bruise, if they thought about it. Their head was spinning, and they felt a little sick.

“O-ow…”

Frisk shook their head a little, looking at Alphys from across the room.  She hadn’t moved, but her body was still sparking a little from magical electricity.

“I’m never doing that again.” She croaked, shakily pushing herself up. One of her lenses was cracked.

Frisk hurried over, wincing midway to grasp at their arm again, then stumbled to help the scientist up into a sitting position. Alphys blinked drearily, her eyes fixed on the elevator.

Or, more accurately, what remained of it.

While the shock absorbers had done their part to keep the elevator mostly intact, the chamber was battered and burned. The interior lights were completely out, and sparks flew from the ceiling circuitry.

“I-It’s inoperable.” Alphys whispered. “Th-there’s no way we can get back up there, now.”

Frisk shakily rose to their feet.

“We…”

They shook their head, growing firm. “We need to get back up there… somehow…”

Alphys pulled herself all the way up. Frustrated tears were starting to well in her eyes.

“W-we’d need to go all the way around the Hotland way!” she cried. “A-and I don’t know if we have that time!”

Frisk clutched the phone.

“There’s gotta be a way!” they said. “We can’t give up, yet! We have to stay determined!”

They flinched, their chest stinging the slightest bit.

 

Strangely, the sound of a loud, obnoxious dial tone sounded from right behind them, echoing through the labs.

 

Frisk jumped nearly a foot in the air before spinning around to see a mess of white squares flickering on the spot behind them.

Alphys stepped back. “H-huh?!”

Slowly, the white, square particles rushed together to form a tall, slim white form - almost resembling a spoon. It stood motionlessly before them, its great head bowing forward as if to inspect them more closely.

The human blinked.

“… It’s you.” They stepped forward, blinking. “You were here, earlier…”

The being drew back, slightly.

 

**_YES._ **

 

The human was startled to hear the voice come from their phone, once more. They glanced down at the receiver, blinking.

“… You were the one who warned us about Gaster coming?”

The being gave a nod.

 **_IT’S NOT SAFE UP THERE,_ ** they whispered. **_HE’S DONE MANY TERRIBLE THINGS. HE’S CAPABLE OF DOING MUCH MORE._ **

Alphys had stepped forward. Frisk noted that she was particularly pale at the sight of the new presence, and swallowed.

“I-I don’t… understand,” she mumbled. “A-all the monsters down here… Th-they were all accounted for. I-I sent them all h-home…”

She peered closer, a bead of sweat forming on her head.

“B-but…I-I don’t remember seeing _you_ here…”

Frisk blinked, looking back at the scientist.

“Wait. You mean, they’re not part of the monsters who…?”

They stopped themselves. Alphys was already looking fairly ashen-faced.

“…I-I mean, you haven’t _seen_ them before?”

The lizard monster shook her head. “N-no. Never.” She looked up at the being, clutching at her claws. “H-How did you get down here?”

The creature was silent. Static buzzed through the receiver, but no reply came.

“I-I think they’ve been here a while.” Frisk said. “I saw them the first time I came down here.” They shrugged, recalling the creature tucking them in bed in the infirmary. “They seemed nice.”

Alphys looked down at the floor.

“Th-they couldn’t have just… wandered in, then,” she mumbled, thoughtfully. “I-I kept everything… locked…”

A white tendril peeled off of the creature’s lithe form. It gently patted Alphys on the shoulder.

**_YOU WERE SAFE THEN. AND YOU ARE SAFE NOW._ **

Frisk’s phone spoke again. They looked down at the receiver, frowning.

 **_YOU SHOULD BE SAFE FROM GASTER,_ ** it whispered. **_TIL THIS ALL PASSES._ **

It withdrew the tendril from the shaken Alphys, as it slowly moved towards the right-side hallway.

**_FOLLOW ME._ **

The creature slithered across the tiled floor, down the hall. Alphys blinked, stepping after it.

“Do you… do you know another way up to the CORE?”

 **_I CAN HELP YOU,_ ** the being said, softly. **_IT’S BETTER THIS WAY._ **

They looked back over at Frisk.

 

**_PLEASE, FOLLOW ME._ **

 

They continued on down the hall. Alphys turned back to the human, frowning in thought.

“I-I… I don’t know about this,” she muttered. “W-we don’t know anything about this one…”

Frisk looked down at the phone.

“They want to help us,” they said, thoughtfully. “And they’ve given us pretty good advice, so far.”

They looked up at Alphys. “If it wasn’t for them, we would’ve run straight into Gaster.” They glanced back down the hall at the creature. “I don’t think they mean us any harm.”

Frisk turned, and began to walk down the hall.

“Maybe we just have to trust our gut on this one.”

As they pursued the being, they heard Alphys quietly mumble to herself.

 

“Th-that almost _never_ works out for me.”

 

The sound of her footsteps joined Frisk’s, and they headed after the white creature - sauntering through the gloom.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Papyrus had never seen the CORE, before.

 

He’d been rooted to the spot for a few seconds, watching the colours swirl upon its surface. It mostly appeared to be a deep violet, basking the rest of the facility in a dark aura.

It was crackling violently, occasional jolts of energy arcing out, only to be pulled back in.

A low, buzzing hum assailed his senses. Papyrus tilted his head, shaking it out, slightly.

It sounded like Gaster. But it was hard to be sure. The interference was coming from the CORE as well - everywhere and nowhere, all at once.

He crooned, looking around.

Did Gaster sound like the CORE? Or was it the other way around?

Either way, there wasn’t a clear way to tell if he was nearby, or not.

“Dammit.”

Undyne dropped off of his shoulder, looking around. “Look. There’s tracks _everywhere_. Walls and ceiling.”

A growl came from his other side.

_ < tracks ain’t gonna help us, now. think he’s skittered around this place a few times. > _

Papyrus glanced over at Sans, concerned.

His brother didn’t look well.

His CORE eye was shut, the faintest traces of energy crackling around it. The rifts that had appeared earlier had done a number on him, but at least he was managing to stand.

 _ < CORE’S looking stable for now, at least. > _ Sans muttered, stepping forward. _ < but i’m not liking the look of those rifts. > _

He shook his head again, managing to look focused. But Papyrus noted his tail flicking back and forth.

 _ < DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE CONTROL ROOM IS? > _ He asked, firmly. _ < WE NEED TO PROTECT IT FROM GASTER - AND WE NEED TO FIND OUT WHERE EVERYONE WENT! > _

Sans looked back at him, blinking.

 _< first part’s easy.  >_ he said. _< don’t have much to go on with the second part, this time.  >_

Undyne crossed her arms, her eye narrowing in thought.

“Alright, knuckleheads. Let’s split up and give this place a sweep.”

She slid off Papyrus’ shoulder. “There’s a chance Alphys and Frisk wised up and made it here. And if not, there’s no way Gaster’s gonna leave this place unsupervised for long with the anchor and all, right?”

She turned to Sans. “If I hear you guys bickering, you get another skull bash, you hear me? Check _everything_ \- the ceiling, the walls - _don’t_ get caught off guard.”

She turned back to Papyrus “Make some _noise_ if you see something.”

She turned towards the stairwell. “Alright. Move out!”

Undyne dashed down the flight of stairs.

Papyrus gave a curt nod. He spotted Sans’ eye sockets dimming slightly - and wondered if he was about to protest.

In the end, Sans complied - darting down the hall and leaving his brother alone.

After a moment, Papyrus spun and dashed in the opposite direction.

It was a little less cramped, running down this hall. The halls were bright with violet, and that meant he didn’t have to strain his eye sockets all that much. But the many doors that lined the hall kept pausing his stride.

 _ < FRISK? ALPHYS? > _ he crooned, quietly, peering into the square, little windows of each door. _ < ARE YOU THERE? > _

He forgot his strength on a few occasions. A couple of doors ended up clattering to the floor in his search, his claws or his large skull accidentally pushing them off their hinges.

Despite having a better look at each room, Papyrus found nothing more than an infirmary - a spotted blanket lying upon the bedspread - and a break room with a decrepit coffee machine, covered in dust.

A soft whine escaped him. Then, he shook his head.

 _ < YOU’RE VERY GOOD AT HIDING. > _ Papyrus remarked, hushed. _ < BUT I’D AT LEAST LIKE TO KNOW WHERE YOU BOTH WENT. > _

He’d moved down the hall a few steps, before suddenly feeling the tile give a little beneath his claw.

Startled, he looked down to see the ceramics blackened and burnt.

The remains of a blast.

Suddenly alert, he was about to call the others to attention, only to realize that the marking didn’t look as recent as the other burns.

In fact, it seemed dusty and brittle.

He huffed. What kind of maintenance was this?! It seemed like it was _years_ old, and nobody had come to fix it! They prioritised the CORE’s function above all else, it looked like.

Papyrus’ gaze rose, spotting a few other similar scorch marks on the walls and floor.

His expression softened when he realized that some the tiles were littered with claw marks, desperate scrabbles and deep slashes.

They didn’t belong to Gaster. Too large for him.

Quietly, the Blaster stepped up to them, lowering his head to inspect them more closely. He tentatively traced a claw over the groove of one such slash.

His own claw was bigger. He was sure Sans’ were, too.

Not by much, though. Just as if they’d been made by someone a little bit…

… younger…

 

Papyrus slowly withdrew his claw from the cracked ceramic as if it were a broken piece of china.

 

_ < … any luck, bro? > _

Papyrus’ gaze darted up to the voice.

Sans stood a few feet before him.

Their paths had met. He’d traversed the other half of the hallway that looped around the entire CORE chamber - though Papyrus had a feeling Sans had covered more ground than he had.

His brother looked very tired.

Papyrus straightened on the spot, hurrying over to Sans (tentatively stepping over the scorch marks as he did).

 _ < NOT YET! > _ He said, doing his best to change his brother’s focus. _ < DID YOU FIND ANYONE? > _

Sans’ head rose. His mood hadn’t changed, but he seemed to pick up on his brother’s intent.

 _ <nothin’. > _ He looked over his shoulder. _ < don’t think the doc’s nearby, either. > _

Sans backed up, glancing to his right. Papyrus followed his gaze to a large, windowed room - the only room he’d seen going inward towards the main CORE chamber.

The electronic doors lay burned and twisted on the tiled floor - having been blasted to oblivion.

 _ < got _ **_this_ ** _goin’ for us, though. > _ Sans muttered, turning away from Papyrus and stepping inside.

Papyrus’ sternum grew tight, as he caught sight of the room’s interior.

_ < OH. > _

 

It was exactly as his brother had described it.

 

He ducked his head beneath the doorframe, quietly taking in the CORE control room.

The observation window showed the CORE, crackling violently through the thick reinforced glass.

Beneath the window was a complex control panel, lights twinkling and buttons flashing - and on the floor before _that_ was a large, gaping hole, still dusty with plaster and tile.

 _ < … heh. > _ Sans looked at it, blinking slowly. _ < don’t think this was there **last** time. guess undyne must’ve busted her way out.  > _

_ < SANS? > _

His brother turned to face him, and Papyrus tucked his tail slightly between his legs. Their brief argument had returned to memory.

 _ < … ARE YOU ALRIGHT? > _ He asked, carefully.

Sans looked startled at that. His gaze darted around, briefly - then he turned to face the CORE controls.

 _ < let’s worry about how we’re gonna stop gaster first, okay bro? > _ he said, his voice low.

Papyrus was about to protest, but shook his head.

No. Sans had a point.

He hopped over the hole in the floor, joining his brother at the console.

_ < DO YOU KNOW HOW TO WORK THIS, SANS? > _

His brother nodded, though Papyrus noted his eye sockets going dark and a bead of sweat appearing on his skull.

 _ < yeah. but, uh… i’m havin’ trouble picturing myself doing it without thumbs.> _ He lifted up a claw, grimacing. _ < or, uh, crushin’ any important buttons. > _

There was a silence.

Sans lowered his head, growling.

 _ < i'm… sorry, bro. i just… you were right. > _  He shook his head. _ < maybe we should’ve tried to find alphys and the kid, first. > _

Papyrus stepped back, his expression growing stern.

 _ < WE _ **_WILL_ ** _FIND THEM, SANS! > _ He looked down, grimacing at the memory of the rifts appearing. _ < BUT YOU WERE RIGHT TO MAKE SURE GASTER DIDN’T DO ANY MORE DAMAGE! > _

 

**_YOU KNOW…_ **

 

Papyrus felt a chill down his spine.

 

**_IT’S RUDE TO GOSSIP ABOUT SOMEONE WHO’S LISTENING._ **

 

Papyrus didn’t even take the time to look up, pushing his forelegs off the tiled ground and staggering backwards on his back legs as two skeletal hands slammed down on the floor he’d been standing on, moments ago.

Sans, on the other hand, cleanly leapt back, a deep snarl upon his features as he faced Gaster - the beginnings of a laser blast building between his jaws.

 **_THAT WOULD BE UNWISE._ ** The doctor dropped to the floor, standing on his own two legs for once. **_UNLESS YOU’D LIKE A REPEAT OF THE LAST TIME YOU WERE CARELESSLY SHOOTING AROUND HERE._ **

The blast extinguished in Sans’ jaws, and Papyrus grew rigid.

 _ < … like you’re one to talk on safety protocol, doc. > _ Sans growled, his dark eye sockets were narrowed in rage. _ < what do you think you’re trying to _ **_pull_ ** _, overloading the CORE like this? > _

Gaster’s eye sockets narrowed.

 **_PRIMARILY, DEFENDING MYSELF FROM YOU TWO,_ ** he said, lowly. **_IF YOU’D BOTH OBEYED BEFOREHAND, PERHAPS I WOULDN’T HAVE HAD TO RESORT TO SUCH DESPERATE MEASURES._ **

He crossed his arms. **_NOW - IF IT’S ALL THE SAME TO YOU - STEP AWAY FROM MY CONSOLE._ **

A small smile appeared on his features.

 

**_IF THE PAST IS ANY INDICATION, YOU VERY WELL KNOW THAT YOUR VERY PRESENCE HERE IS A HAZARD, SANS._ **

 

In the midst of the tension, Papyrus heard a rough, beastly chuff from left.

_ < …heh. heheh...>_

The taller Blaster glanced over at his brother. He was shaking his head.

_< i get it.  > _

A grin appeared on Sans' features.

_ < you were chasin’ the kid - but you got scared by the CORE surge and headed on back to check, huh? > _

If Gaster was irritated by this claim, his expression didn’t show it. But he was silent.

Sans’ own expression dropped.

 _ < you shouldn’t be here either, doc, > _ he said, his tone dark. _ < whatever you've been doin' to the CORE - the anchor, or powerin' this place - it all needs to stop. > _

His eye sockets flickered blue.

 _ < you _ **_can’t_ ** _mess with this. you know this. i_ **_know_ ** _you do. > _

He snarled up at him, planting a decisive claw on the floor.

 _ < you’re _ **_smarter_ ** _than this, doc. > _

Papyrus was silent, looking between his brother, and then Gaster.

The doctor remained expressionless. Unmoved.

Papyrus felt a small growl rise up in his throat, unbidden.

 

 **_...I CANNOT STOP,_ ** Gaster said, quietly.

 

He looked up at Sans. **_YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT WAS LIKE, BACK THERE. AS LONG AS THERE IS A CHANCE TO MOVE FORWARD, TO BE FREE OF THE VOID, I WILL STRIVE AFTER IT. I WILL TAKE EVERY CHANCE._ **

He looked over at Papyrus.

**_I WILL TAKE BACK EVERYTHING YOU HAVE STOLEN FROM ME. I CAN BETTER THE MUTAGEN. FIX MY MISTAKES. KEEP EVERYTHING UNDER MY CONTROL._ **

He held his arms out.

 ****_**I WILL USE ANYTHING I CAN. YOU TWO. THE CAPTAIN. THE CORE...** _

His eye sockets narrowed.

 

**_...EVEN THE HUMAN._ **

 

Papyrus felt his head lowering. He felt fire starting to burn in his chest.

 

But it was at that moment that the tiled floor lit up with cyan circles, a familiar hum sounding.

 

Gaster gave a start, only for the spears to shoot up before him, stopping him in his tracks.

 _“THANKS FOR THE MONOLOGUE!”_ Undyne shrieked, leaping up from the cragged hole in the floor behind him, a spear at the ready.

Gaster turned, his arms lashing out at her as she threw the spear directly through his chest. A loud PING sounded.

The cyan circles gave way to spears, barring in the doctor’s many arms. Undyne leapt back, perching on the very top of the control panel, careful not to hit any buttons.

Papyrus' fire dissolved, and his gaze fell to the doctor, caged in the center of the control room.

_ < ... what… ? > _

His gaze darted to Sans. His brother’s aggressive facade had completely faded into shock, his sockets wide and black.

Blinking, Papyrus’ gaze returned to Gaster.

 

And he saw his SOUL.

 

It no longer looked distorted, or digitised. It didn’t _seem_ like it had chunks missing, anymore.

Papyrus tilted his head.

No, that wasn’t right.

The chunks were all _there_ . They looked like they would have _fit_ together.

 

But they weren't  _connected_.

 

 ****The SOUL before them was shattered into pieces. While it had the shape of a typical monster SOUL, the pieces were separate - as if pulling away from one another.

**_HH… HRGH…_ **

The arms on the doctor’s back had spasmed back to life. Papyrus and Sans had both taken a step back, and Undyne crouched low, keeping a spear at the ready. Her eye was wide in surprise as Gaster’s many arms began to grasp at his head.

Began to try pulling his skull in every imaginable direction.

The multitude of voices that filtered through the air seemed to be an indistinct cacophony. They all rambled at the same time - all sounding like Gaster, with all his different tones and inflections - yet Papyrus couldn’t see his mouth forming anything other than a scream.

Finally, the hands converged on his skull - slamming it back together, rather than ripping it apart. Gaster fell to his knees, his teeth gritted, breathing heavily.

From her position atop the controls, Undyne rose with a frown, her eyes fixed on the doctor’s chest.

“Huh.”

 

She pointed directly at the centre of the fragmented SOUL - where a very precise hole, marred by a jagged chip - had been carved out.

 

“… _that_ ain't normal.” Undyne glanced over at Sans. " _Is_ that normal?"

Sans didn't respond. 

There was a flash of violet as Gaster’s eye sockets snapped open.

All of his arms shot towards Undyne. She rose a hand, barely having enough time to summon a second spear.

The arms plunged into her, slamming her into the thick glass.

 

The window shattered. 

 

Papyrus hadn't been aware he’d been charging forward, until a heavy force had suddenly slammed him onto his side. He hit the floor, claws pinning him there. He was still and trapped and dazed as his skull landed hard against the tiles, making the world go blurry.

He didn’t see Undyne go flying through the observatory window.

He didn’t see Undyne falling into the CORE chamber.

He didn’t hear what Sans was screaming at him.

 

He was too busy screaming, himself.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Frisk paused in their stride.

 

The white creature carried on through the gloom, passing by the rows of beds in the large, central hall of the True Lab. However, it paused at a hallway branching off to the left, patiently turning to face Frisk.

**_IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?_ **

The human blinked, shaking their head as they were startled by the voice from their phone.

“I-I… yeah. I’m sorry.” Frisk smiled at them. “I thought I… heard something.”

They looked up at the ceiling once more. Then, they stepped forward.

“Let’s keep going.”

The creature nodded at them, then slithered around the corner.

Frisk’s face fell once they were out of sight.

They were _sure_ they’d heard something, far off. But it was hard to tell, this far underground…

Curiously, they looked behind them to see Alphys following them closely.

She was glancing around the dimmed lab, her gaze landing on the dog food dish in the corner of the room.

Her gaze met Frisk’s, and she caught up, passing by the human.

“S-sorry.” She said, softly. “I keep getting… W-we gotta hurry.”

Frisk turned to follow her, as they both turned the corner down a long hall, leading into darkness - the white creature serving as a beacon in the gloom.

The human looked down at their boots as they walked.

They wondered about the last time Alphys had been down in these labs. It was plain to see that the scientist didn’t want to be here any more than she needed to.

They clutched their sweater, watching the scientist quickening her pace, her head facing downwards.

 

They hoped she was alright.

 

The trio passed by the old shower room - where Frisk remembered seeing their strange new companion flailing behind the purple curtain.

The human slowed as they passed by, frowning in recollection.

It had been harmless. Scary, maybe - but harmless.

If it wasn’t an Amalgamate, then what exactly _was_ it?

It seemed to _act_ like one - a strange manifestation that seemed otherworldly and alien, almost. Frisk was unsure if it housed several consciousnesses like the others - or if it was all alone, in there.

They blinked, tugging at their sleeve.

 

... but most importantly...

 

... how had it known about their ability to SAVE?

 

They had only been staring at the shower curtain for only a moment before they heard a startled shriek from Alphys.

Spinning to look down the hall, they dashed across the tiles towards the scientist, who had suddenly frozen in place.

The white creature was nowhere to be seen.

“Alphys?!”

The scientist spun around, pale.

“I-I’m okay,” she said, shakily. “I-I just… they _vanished_ , and then I…”

Alphys turned around, and Frisk noted that the hallway had opened up into a much larger room.

“I-I guess I got spooked,” she muttered sheepishly, stepping forward.

Her face suddenly scrunched up in concentration. “B-but where did they go…?”

Frisk’s attention, however, had been taken by the centrepiece of the room, itself.

It hung from the ceiling, over a deep pit - presumably carved out to accommodate for the contraption’s size.

 

It was hard to forget a sight like the DT Extractor.

 

The hulking, skull-like bronze contraption had the same intimidating presence that Frisk remembered. It loomed over them in silence, its empty sockets gazing back at them.

Frisk glanced over at Alphys, who had turned to look at at the contraption with a tired look.

“... I was hoping I wouldn’t have to see this again,” she mumbled. “I-It’s caused me nothing but trouble.”

Frisk looked back up at the machine, a somber look on their face. It was clear to see that this was the last room Alphys wanted to be.

“I-I’m sorry,” they offered.

The scientist drew in a breath.

“It’s okay,” she said. Then, she gave a meek laugh.

“Y-you know, it startled me, hiding in the shadows like that.” She stepped towards it. “I never got used to the design.”

Frisk blinked, glancing back over to Alphys.

“You’re scared of a design you made up?”

The scientist blinked. “Huh?”

The human tilted their head.

“You built it, right?”

Alphys blinked again. Then she shook her head, giving a small laugh. “O-oh, no. No, I-I… w-well, yeah. I _built_ it.”

She adjusted her glasses. “B-but I didn’t _design_ it.”

Frisk blinked. “You didn’t?”

“No. I would’ve given it a much more approachable design, that’s for s-sure,” she said.

She turned back to Frisk. “I-It was in a few blueprints I found, down here. Some things were written in a cipher, b-but most of it was easy to follow.”

Alphys looked down at the grimy floor. Frisk noted that through her rambling, she appeared to be calming down.

“A lot of the diagrams were comprehensible enough, and the calculations were all laid out. It wasn’t in the testing phase for long. I just m-modified its function a little.”

Frisk looked back up at it.

“Modified it?” They asked.

At this, Alphys adjusted her glasses.

“I think it’s meant to isolate an element and… well, _extract_ it.” She shrugged. “I don’t know what it was built to extract, exactly. B-but I knew we needed a way to obtain… determination.”

She was silent for a moment, and Frisk looked over at her, concerned.

“S-so, I repurposed the device to target DT, instead of whatever it was _originally_ planned for…” she trailed off.

She and Frisk stood in silence a moment.

Then, they looked at each other.

 

“Y-You don’t think…” Alphys began.

 

“…Gaster designed this himself?” Frisk finished, going pale.

 

There was a buzz.

A crackle. A hum.

Frisk’s attention returned to their cellphone, and they grabbed it out of their pocket.

 

**_STAY AWAY FROM IT._ **

 

A series of white, square particles began to materialise atop the hulking DT Extractor.

Frisk was startled to see the lithe, white amalgamate reform, its body leaning forward to face them, two tendrils peeling off its sides, as it forming into arms.

 

**_IT CAME FROM A DANGEROUS MIND. THE MIND OF A FOOL._ **

 

Alphys stepped back.

“Wh-what’s going on?” she asked, her voice growing firm. “A-are you taking us to the CORE or _aren’t_ you?!”

A louder buzz sounded from Frisk’s phone. The being convulsed briefly, stretching left and right in a blink, as if it were a warped TV image.

 

 **_I HAVE WATCHED YOU, DOCTOR,_ ** it said.

 

The being’s tendrils spit at the ends, revealing fingers. It flickered.

 

**_AND I HAVE WATCHED YOU, FRISK. BOTH OF YOU._ **

 

Frisk’s chest grew tight.

The static on their. phone rose into a high-pitched, electronic screech.

 

 **_YOU SHOULD HAVE HIDDEN AWAY,_ ** the voice said. **_YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED SAFE. I WILL HELP YOU._ **

 

Alphys stepped back.

“F-Frisk… I think we need to leave,” she said, shakily.

 

 **_PLEASE, DON’T._ ** The being gestured outwards, welcoming. **_IT’S BETTER FOR YOU TO HIDE. WHAT YOU DID, WHAT YOU’VE DONE… THERE’S NO NEED TO BEAR THE BLAME. THERE WAS NO NEED TO SAY YOU DID IT._ **

 

Frisk stepped back with Alphys. And the white being, standing upright, began to distort as its tendrils began to retreat back into its form.

 

 **_YOU DON’T NEED TO FACE ALL THAT,_ ** it said.

 

It flickered with white, square particles as its featureless body began to twitch.

Its sinewy form began to swirl on the spot - as if it were a dripping, white spiral. It began to lose its clean, simple features.

Frisk watched as a black maw began to open at the bottom at the center of its new vortex-like form. Two empty, black eyes opened - then two more. Then seven. Smaller mouths seemed to gasp into existence on its swirling, dripping  body.

There was the distinct smell of batteries.

 

 **_THAT WASN’T YOU,_ ** Frisk’s phone hissed, voices upon voices beginning to join in on its hushed tones. **_IT’S NOT PART OF YOU._ **

Alphys took Frisk by the arm, pulling them further back to the hall - only for white square particles to materialise at the door, blocking their way.

Frisk’s phone finally clattered to the floor, as they spun to face the Memoryhead floating closer and closer.

 **_SO STAY HERE,_ ** it whispered, as white, square particles began to materialise around them all. **_I WILL KEEP YOU SAFE. JOIN ME._ **

 

The black maw opened wide, its eyes shining in joy.

 

 

**C̀́O̊̍͌Mͩ͂ͮͫ̔̔È̔̀̆̽͌ ̂̃̆̌̃̈́J̀ͣO͒̏̓Ī̃̈͆̂ͥNͤͮ ̄̎ͧ̃Tͤ̉͒H̾E̅ ̔̎Fͦ̑̌̈ͪUͨN͋**

 

 

 


	31. A Shard

Sans couldn’t move.

 

He couldn’t hear his brother howling. He couldn’t see him writhing and slashing against the tiles, pinned in place under Sans’ claws.

The control room was bathed in flickering violet. The CORE observatory window had shattered, the shards twinkling in the light. He could hear the CORE itself, crackling and humming and churning from within the chamber - unobstructed by glass.

And Gaster…

The doctor was looming over the control panel, his black silhouette casting a stark shadow upon the tiled floor. His gaze was fixed where the Royal Captain once crouched.

Sans couldn’t move.

He couldn’t hear Undyne. He couldn’t see her.

She’d been thrown through the window. He’d seen her go flying through the air. But then, his gaze had been caught by Papyrus charging towards the CORE chamber itself...

And his SOUL had turned to ice. And something desperate and frightened had risen up in him and he’d charged forward and tackled and pinned Papyrus to the floor and _stopped_ him because he was _not_ going anywhere, he was _not_ going anywhere _near_ the CORE and he’d roared all that down at his brother, even though Papyrus was clearly not listening.

It hadn’t mattered that they’d gotten control over the mutagen. It hadn’t mattered if Gaster was unstable.

Undyne was _gone._

Just like everyone _else_ who had stood in Gaster’s way.

And Papyrus…

 

He’d been so close to following.

 

_ < NO… NO!! > _

Sans kept all of his weight on his forepaws, preventing his struggling brother from standing.

 _ < SANS!! > _ He shrieked. _ < LET ME GO!! > _

Sans refused. His darkened eye sockets rose to Gaster.

He started to tremble - from what, he did not know.

The doctor’s SOUL was still in view, the effects of the GREEN attack fading and flickering away. The fragments were still in view. The SOUL that Sans himself and the doctor had believed to be ‘complete.’

The missing shard, a stark black shape against the glowing white of the fragments…

…was the very last thing that tied the doctor to the Void.

The doctor’s form twitched on the spot, and Sans could barely think.

_ < … doc. > _

A pair of violet-lit eye sockets bore into his skull as Gaster turned to face him. The GREEN attack had faded completely, granting the doctor mobility, once more - and hiding away the disfigured SOUL.

 _ < … what the hell did you _ **_do_ ** _to yourself? >   _Sans whispered.

He wanted to run - take Papyrus as far away from this place as he could. He wanted to stay, to rip the answers out of Gaster. He wanted to find Alphys, find the kid.

So, all he could do was stand frozen.

_ < UNDYNE!! > _

Sans looked down at Papyrus. He’d dug his claws into the steel floor, trying to push himself up against Sans’ strength. A mix of rage and fear welled within his eye sockets, as he looked back up at his brother with a snarl.

 _ < SANS, LET ME _ **_UP!!_ ** _UNDYNE’S IN TROUBLE!! > _

Papyrus sank his claws deeper into the cracking tiles. His eye sockets began to wildly flicker orange and Sans increased his weight, snarling back.

 _ < pap, _ **_wait!_ ** _you’re losin’ it! > _

The anger faded almost instantly. Papyrus collapsed back to the floor, and Sans nearly released him for fear that he’d hurt his brother with his strength.

Papyrus took in a wheezing gasp, the orange in his eye sockets dimming. He shut his eyes with a low whine, shaking his head abruptly.

_ < N… NO… > _

**_THERE’S NO NEED TO DESPAIR._ **

Sans’ gaze shot to Gaster, who had turned to face them. The arms on his back had all begun twitching to life. Pulling and reaching in different directions.

 **_YOU WILL FORGET HER, SOON ENOUGH._ ** He said, simply.

Sans felt his chest burn.

He felt fire burning in his throat and ribcage and he didn’t know what to do with it and something in him wanted to eliminate the doctor right _there_ because it was happening all over again - everything was happening all over again and nothing had _changed._

_ < SANS!!! > _

Sans was startled out of his thoughts as he suddenly felt himself knocked away and landing hard on his side. A panic rose in him, before a weight on the side of his ribcage pinned him down on the floor.

He barely heard Papyrus suddenly yelling down at _him_ , and looked up to see his brother’s terrified features, being lit up by the blue that flickered from Sans’ own eye sockets - and the flames welling up from within his own maw.

Sans shut his eyes, snarling deeply. The burning disappeared, the flames extinguishing.

He was losing it.

They _both_ were.

They weren’t responding to the mutagen - but the mutagen was responding to _them_.

He had to stay focused. He couldn’t let himself get carried away.

Not like last time.

 

**_… HOW CURIOUS._ **

 

Struggling against the knowledge that he could easily shove Papyrus away if he so chose, Sans restrained himself, his features twisted into a beastly snarl. Something within him kept goading the Blaster on, the fear beginning to give way to rage.

The doctor simply stared back, with a thoughtful look.

**_NO MATTER WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO FIGHT AGAINST MY MUTAGEN…_ **

A smile slowly split his features.

**_… IT STILL AILS YOU, DOESN’T IT?_ **

Sans watched as the doctor’s head tilted, his eye sockets wide and empty.

**_VERY WELL. I AM NOT WITHOUT MERCY. YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TO NEEDLESSLY DESPAIR  ABOUT YOUR DEAR FRIEND ANY LONGER._ **

He held out his arms, palms upwards in a welcoming gesture.

**_LET ME ASSIST YOU._ **

The arms on his back stilled - suddenly spread out and poised around the doctor. A flurry of white, skeletal and holed palms suddenly faced the two Blasters.  

 

Then, the hands all shot forward, their fingers outstretched.

 

Sans shoved Papyrus away. He scrambled to his feet, with a furious roar.

  


And then, he knew no more.

  


* * *

 

 

It wasn’t like before.

  


Gaster focused hard, his myriad of hands planted in the center of both Blasters’ foreheads. They’d had little time to escape - especially Sans, who had barely managed to stand from his former position on the floor.

The white rings that formed in both of their sockets had barely remained for any longer than a second, fizzling out to make way for their natural light of orange and blue.

And like before, something in their SOULs - now on-edge and practiced - pushed back against his command immediately. A rude shock in the past, that was for certain.

Gaster understood now that his command was no longer welcome - that the Blasters no longer sought his authority, subconsciously or otherwise.

He smirked, as both Blasters staggered back, their eye sockets filling up with their respective colours of blue and orange.

No, it wasn’t like before.

 

But he didn’t _need_ for it to be.

 

Sans recovered first, shaking his head out of the grasp of the doctor’s hands, which quickly withdrew - now entirely familiar of the threat the beast posed.

The Blaster’s head rose to face the doctor, and Gaster smiled.

Gone was the intense stare of his former pupil - gone was the anger and focus. In its place was the stunned, blue-lit gaze of a startled beast, taking in his surroundings as if he’d simply been dropped into the room seconds ago.

Gaster’s focus darted to Papyrus, whose claws had dug into the floor. The orange flickered wildly in his eye sockets.

 **_< CAN’T _ ** _FOR_ **_GET…_ ** > He growled, trying to shake away the hands. **_< WON’_ ** _T_ **_FORGET… >_ **

With a slight frown, Gaster slammed his remaining hands on Papyrus’ forehead. His eye sockets filled up with orange light, and his grip on the floor loosened.

The arms darted away from the beast as he stumbled back, giving a low whine.

**_< NO… I’M… I…  >_ **

The meaning of the words were quickly lost to Gaster, as the beast looked up at him. The same startled look appeared in his orange-lit eye sockets, as if Papyrus were seeing him for the first time.

Gaster’s hands withdrew towards his back. He held his normal arms forward.

He didn’t have long to act.

Taking a breath, he reached into the entirety of his inventory.

A platoon of _twelve_ Blaster skulls materialised in the air around him. The broken remains and half-finished projects that he’d found in the depths of the CORE facility had been enough to be salvaged. As dusty and decrepit they were, they were functional - and had much more use to him then the two beasts that stood before him.

They reacted to his arsenal’s appearance - Sans dipping his head in a defensive snarl, and Papyrus raising his head, his tail stiff.

Gaster’s gaze darted to his weaponry.

 **_THEY CANNOT REMAIN ON THIS FLOOR._ ** He instructed. **_DO NOT LET THEM SHOOT. PRESERVE YOURSELVES - BUT TAKE THEM OUT OF THIS FACILITY._ **

With a cacophony of screeches, the platoon of skulls rushed forth before either beast could respond.

They swarmed and barrelled into into the two, and the beasts were sent skidding out of the small, enclosed control room - slamming against the wall with a CLANG.

Gaster had a moment to observe both Blasters clumsily scrambling to their feet with panicked yelps and yowls, their eye sockets blazing with light - before his gaze was obstructed by the three most complete-looking Blasters using themselves to barricade the control room door.

He turned back to the shattered window of the CORE chamber, hearing the two beasts snap and screech as they were swarmed. The whine of a charging laser filled the halls - but a choked yelp and the splutter of flames allowed Gaster to relax.

He would not let his anchor be destabilised by some wayward blast, now.

The violet light of the CORE blazed through the shattered observation window. His gaze lowered to the controls, and he monitored the power output, once more.

He heard a pained shriek from outside, and smirked as the commotion began to grow more distant.

  


_… YOU REALLY WON’T LISTEN TO US?_

  


Gaster ignored the voice coming from a fragment of his SOUL, his focus remaining on the CORE.

  


YOU HAVE NOTHING MORE TO SAY TO US?

  


The smirk stretched into a smile.

  


**WE STILL HAVE PLENTY TO SAY TO YOU.**

 

Gaster closed his eyes.

 **_IT DOESN’T MATTER._ ** He whispered. **_YOU MEAN NOTHING._ **

A glimmer of violet shone from his SOUL. And to his satisfaction, the voices silenced, once more.

Yes. It didn’t matter what anyone did. It didn’t matter what was thrown his way. He simply had to continue on. He would get what he wanted, in the end.

 

In one way or another, Gaster would _always_ have control of the situation.

 

And there was no force in the Underground that could change that.

  
  


* * *

 

  
  


**_COME JOIN THE FUN._ **

  


The voice, distorted and screeching, blared from the phone that lay upon the grimy tiles of the True Lab.

 

Frisk’s gaze darted about the room, as the voice seemed to echo and repeat the phrase over and over. They stepped back from the hulking DT Extractor with Alphys by their side. Magical electricity had begun to crackle within her claws, out of nervousness.

“… w-what _is_ this?” She breathed.

The Memoryhead still hovered at the very top of the large, brass skull. It seemed to remain fixed in place - though Frisk couldn’t really call it ‘still.’

Like the last time they had encountered it, it seemed to be constantly in motion - swirling even when its lopsided, goopy black features seemed to remain fixed in place, dripping and churning about. White, square particles buzzed around it like static.

Frisk’s hands rose to their ears. The deafening voices were starting to fade, but the human was starting to feel dizzy.

They felt Alphy’s claw on their arm.

“F-Frisk - we have to go - ” The scientist began, before a second, dizzying electronic screech echoed throughout the Lab.

The DT Extractor seemed to darken as several other masses of white, glowing, square particles materialised at every exit of the room. Some appeared near the ceiling - blotting out the dim, fluorescent lights.

Dripping black orifices seemed upon them seemed to gasp into existence.

Frisk wasn’t sure why they hadn’t remembered it sooner.

There’d definitely been more than one Memoryhead in their last encounter.

All the white masses seemed to glow - and soon they were the _only_ light sources in the room, though the darkness itself seemed almost a dark, rotting green. Frisk looked over to Alphys, barely making out the glimmer of her glasses in the gloom.

The voices and the screeching faded away at last. The Memoryhead atop the DT skull looked around, its many eyes darting about. It seemed amused about its surroundings.

 

**_IT’S A REAL GET-TOGETHER._ **

 

Then, its image stuttered. It warped away on the spot, suddenly reappearing mere feet away from Frisk and Alphys. They flinched back, as the maw upon the creature’s face seemed to close, as if becoming stern.

 

 **_STAY HERE._ ** It said. **_IT’S NOT SAFE FOR YOU, UP THERE._ **

 

Frisk lowered their hands from the side of their head, taking in a deep breath.

They were trapped. They’d followed the voice, tried to trust that it would guide them, like before…

… and now they were trapped. Far away from the CORE.

Far away from Sans, Papyrus and Undyne.

“L-listen to me!” Alphys cried, sounding much braver than she looked. “Y-You don’t understand. It’s not going to be safe for anybody, a _nywhere!_ The CORE’s going to explode, and we need to help deactivate it! W-we’ll all be _dust!”_

The Memoryhead twisted, and shuddered. Their several mouths seemed to twist into frowns, and the other creatures scattered about the room seemed to tremble.

 

**_IF YOU GO, YOU’LL BE IN PAIN. YOU’LL BE MISERABLE._ **

 

“Being _here_ is what’s making me miserable!” Alphys yelled, her teeth gritting. Frisk grabbed her arm, looking around each part of the room for an exit.

Could they barrel through one of the Memoryheads? Could they convince it to let them go?

… could they even make it back up to the CORE in time?

Frisk’s gaze dropped back onto the buzzing phone, still lying on the tiles.

**_SUFFER_ **

**_YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO._ ** It said. **_YOU DON’T HAVE TO     DIE_ **

**** **_HURT_ **

**_FORGET_ **

**_SCREAM_ **

Frisk winced as the voice split into many, mumbling several things at once.

The Memoryhead swirled on the spot once more, as of to collect itself, and grew silent. All its darting eyes suddenly fixed onto the human in a piercing stare.

 

 **_YOU DON’T HAVE TO FACE ALL THAT._ ** It said. **_YOU’VE GONE THROUGH ENOUGH. YOU’VE BEEN IN ENOUGH PAIN, RIGHT? YOU’VE DIED ENOUGH, HAVEN’T YOU?_ **

 

Frisk blinked.

Their gaze slowly lowered to the phone upon the grimy tiles.

A cold feeling settled in the pit of their stomach - and they remembered being back at the CORE, holding the phone at arm’s length, the voice of the Memoryhead screeching at them.

  


* * *

 

 

**_HE WILL DESTROY YOU. OVER, AND OVER AND OVER…_ **

 

 

* * *

  


Frisk released the distressed Alphys, stumbling back as the being loomed closer and closer.

“… What are you talking about?” They asked, softly - though in truth, they knew _exactly_ what the Memoryhead meant.

What they _couldn’t_ understand was how or _why_ it knew.

The Memoryhead was looming over them, now. Its many expressions seemed to be becoming sporadic - frowns, and sorrowful eyes, and sympathetic smiles appearing all over it. It looked odd, on such an otherworldly creature.

 

**_… YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE HAD TO GO THROUGH THAT, AGAIN AND AGAIN…_ **

 

It began to slowly swirl on the spot. Its many expressions suddenly seemed to go blank, dazed. Its features twisted further.

 

 **_OVER… AND OVER… AND OVER…_ ** It mumbled.

 

_“G-get back!”_

A bolt of magical electricity hit the being. It convulsed with a screech and Frisk found themself being grabbed by the arm.

Alphys had regained her focus, and was now pulling them towards one of the exits, still blocked by another Memoryhead.

She summoned another lightning bolt and threw it at the pulsing white obstacle.

But instead of flinching, it only seemed to splatter outward, growing slightly larger.

Alphys and Frisk both screeched to a halt as the same warped, dripping features of Memoryhead appeared upon the flickering mass, the same pattern of eyes and huge gaping maw opening on its being.

 

**_Ab  sorb  ed._ **

**_FAIL  UR   E_ **

**_I’m lo vin’ i  t_ **

**_B  ut it   d idn’t wo   rk._ **

 

Frisk spun around to face the creature they’d both fled from, moments earlier.

It had no face. Or faces, as it were. It had grown smaller. The eyes and mouths had all vanished from sight.

Frisk spun back to the Memoryhead at the door before them.

“What… what’s happening?”

Alphys shook her head, stepping back.

“I-It’s like…”

She looked around at the other Memoryheads. Frisk noticed that none of them had the same amount of features that the one in front of them did.

“… a-are they all part of the same being?” Alphys whispered, curiosity managing to shine through her tone. “L-like a hive mind?”

The human winced.

If all of these Memoryheads were part of the same being, then escaping was going to be harder than they’d thought. They could coordinate. None of these creatures had much substance to them - but they didn’t look like they would budge, either. Alphys’ attack seemed to have done no damage at all.

 

**_YOU CAN’T GO BACK UP THERE._ **

 

Frisk spun around to face the Memoryhead. Its many faces seemed to have become solemn.

They blinked, slowly.

“H-how do you know all this…?” They whispered.

There was a brief silence.

 

… **_I KNOW WHAT YOU’VE DONE, FRISK._ **

 

It drifted away from them, the slightest bit.

 

**_IN SOME WAYS, I’VE… OBSERVED YOU. I’VE FELT YOUR DETERMINATION AT WORK. I FELT IT, WHEN YOU FELL INTO THE UNDERGROUND._ **

 

Several of its eyes squinted at the human.

 

 **_THE FIRST_ ** **_AND_ ** **_THE SECOND._ **

 

Frisk froze.

They clutched the fabric in front of their chest. Their face turned pale, their small form trembling as they stared up at the Memoryhead.

 

**_I GLIMPSED YOU, WHENEVER I COULD. THAT FIRST TIME…YOU LASHED OUT, DIDN’T YOU? YOU WERE HURT. YOU WERE AFRAID._ **

 

The Memoryhead’s eyes drew closed.

 

**_A HUMAN CHILD, ALONE IN A WORLD OF MONSTERS. WHO COULD BLAME YOU?_ **

 

 _“N-No…”_ Frisk croaked, shakily.

Out of the corner of their eye, they could see Alphys turning to them.

“Frisk…?”

They couldn’t return her gaze.

 

**_YOU KEPT GOING. YOU KEPT FIGHTING AND DIDN’T STOP. I FELT IT, EVERY TIME YOU ‘SAVED.’ YOUR DETERMINATION PUSHED YOU FORWARD._ **

 

Frisk’s hands rose to their head, and their eyes shut tight. The stench of batteries was overwhelming.

They felt sick.

 

**_DO NOT DESPAIR._ **

 

Something patted them on the head, and they flinched away. They looked up to see a tendril withdraw from them, absorbed back into the Memoryhead.

 

**_YOU FIXED YOUR MISTAKES. YOU ERASED THEM. YOU DON’T HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT, ANYMORE. YOU DON’T NEED TO FACE WHAT YOU DID._ **

 

The gaping maw drew into a grin. Frisk felt cold, clutching at their chest.

“I-I…”

For a moment, they were back on the surface, bathed in the golden sun shining down Mt Ebott. They were descending down the summit, trailing behind the enthusiastic group of monsters.

And they saw Sans, standing in their path. They saw him surrounded in the gold of the sunlight, once more.

 

Sans and his black, empty sockets.

 

Frisk’s hands rose to their eyes, the same heavy tears trickling down their face, as if unbidden.

It was a quiet fear they’d held, since the moment the warm eyelights had returned to the skeleton’s sockets.

In the first timeline, Sans had saved them. In this timeline, Sans had understood.

Sans had forgiven them.

… But would anyone else?

 

 **_YOU DON’T NEED TO_ ** **_TELL_ ** **_ANYBODY ELSE._ **

 

They snapped back to the present, looking up at the Memoryhead. Its gaping maw had closed.

 

**_YOU DIDN’T NEED TO TELL ANYONE AT ALL. YOU DON’T NEED FOR THEM TO KNOW. YOU DON'T EVEN WANT TO TELL ANYONE._ **

 

Frisk couldn’t move. They wanted to speak back, they wanted to say something, anything.

But the words they heard _paralysed_ them.

Because they knew it was true.

They didn’t want it to be. They didn’t want that to be them.

 

 **_BUT IT’S_ ** **_NOT_ ** **_YOU._ **

 

Frisk grasped at their head.

“But it _is._ ” They whispered.

 

 **_IT DOESN’T_ ** **_HAVE_ ** **_TO BE YOU, DEAR CHILD. YOU DON’T HAVE TO ACCEPT IT IF IT CAUSES YOU PAIN._ **

 

“W-wait!”

Frisk saw the blurred image of the ex-Royal Scientist stand in front of them. They didn’t look up to face her. They tried to pull themself out of their paralysis - they needed to _move_ \- they needed to find a way _out_.

But they stayed frozen.

“I-I don’t really understand what this is about… but you… you’re making my friend… _r-really_ upset!” Alphys said, firmly. “A-and you’re stopping us from leaving!”

Frisk heard a crackle of magical electricity and looked up at the scientist. Several beads of sweat had appeared on her head, but her gaze remained fierce.

“I-If _this_ is your idea of k-keeping us safe - then there’s something _seriously_ messed up about you!” She said, shakily.

The Memoryhead looked down at her. Several of its eyes blinked.

 

**_I WATCHED YOU TOO, ALPHYS._ **

 

Frisk snapped out of their paralysis, as the scientist seemed to freeze, instead.

“H-how did you - ”

 

**_I WATCHED YOU BECOME FRUSTRATED. YOU WANTED RESULTS, DIDN’T YOU?_ **

 

All eyes were now fixed on Alphys, whose bravado had now completely dissolved. The electricity in her claws had extinguished.

She had gone very pale beneath her scales.

 

**_YOU HAD TO PUSH FORWARD. I UNDERSTAND._ **

 

The Memoryhead loomed closer to her. She stepped back, starting to tremble.

“I-I…”

 

**_YOU HAD TO HELP EVERYONE._ **

 

Frisk found the use of their limbs, once more. They staggered forward, grasping Alphys by the arm.

 

**_THE UNDERGROUND WAS DEPENDING ON YOU. AND YOU LET THEM DOWN._ **

 

She flinched out of their grip, starting to curl into herself.

“No… _nonono…”_ Her claws began to rise to her head. “D-Don’t…”

 

**_I HAVE SEEN YOUR SUFFERING AS WELL. YOU NEVER NEEDED TO COME FORWARD, DOCTOR. YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN SAFER HERE. THE AMALGAMATES UNDERSTOOD._ **

 

“Alphys…” Frisk tried to approach again, hesitating when the lizard crouched down, now grasping her head firmly.

“S-Stop it!” She cried. “I-It wasn’t _right!_ I-I couldn’t just… keep that up! They… they all _had_ to know!! I needed to - ”

 

**_YOU DIDN’T NEED TO DO ANYTHING._ **

 

Frisk spun to the Memoryhead. Its maw had reopened, forming more of a frown, now, than a smile.

 

**_YOU STILL HAD OTHERS WHO SUPPORTED YOU. THERE WAS NO NEED TO BRING IT ALL INTO THE OPEN. IT WAS ALL FINE. YOU MANAGED, DIDN’T YOU?_ **

 

Frisk gritted their teeth.

 _“Stop it!”_ Their voice came out shakier than they anticipated, and the many eyes suddenly darted to focus on them.

Hurriedly, Frisk wiped at any tears that still remained on their features. But the Memoryhead’s frown seemed to vanish - and Frisk was certain that they could make out some form of sympathy in the creature’s many eyes and mouths.

 

**_… YOU SHOULDN’T SUFFER, ANYMORE._ **

 

Frisk hurriedly turned to Alphys. They couldn’t see her face, but her breathing was high-pitched and shaky. They crouched by her side, a hand hovering near her shoulder. They were uncertain on what to do.

“A-Alphys, it’s… i-it’s gonna be okay…”

They were frustrated when their own voice started breaking, again. They were still shaken.

 

**_…I SEE. I UNDERSTAND._ **

 

Frisk’s gaze darted up at the Memoryhead.

 

 **_YOU BOTH KNOW YOU ARE CAPABLE OF HORRIBLE THINGS._ ** It said, softly.

 

The human’s gaze darted about, and they tried to strategise, to think of an escape. They had to leave this place, they had to get back to their friends -

\- and yet, there it was. One, small fear that was now encompassing everything in their mind.

They briefly wondered if this was how Sans had felt.

It was a horrible thing, they knew. A horrible, selfish thing…

 

**_…AND THAT CAUSES YOU SUFFERING ENOUGH._ **

 

Frisk was startled to feel something wrap tightly around their wrist. They looked up at the Memoryhead before them, and only had moments to brace themselves before they were thrown upwards by a white tendril.

A yelp was caught in their throat, and they heard Alphys yell after them, startled out of her misery.

_“FRISK!”_

The human was caught in midair by another tendril - this one extending from one of the Memoryhead parts on the ceiling. Frisk drew in a startled gasp as they were flung once more, towards the Memoryhead hovering atop the DT Extractor.

 

**_I KNOW HOW TO SAVE YOU FROM THAT MADMAN. AND I KNOW HOW TO SAVE YOU FROM YOURSELF._ **

 

Two tendrils extended from either side. They caught Frisk by their wrists, the human wincing in pain as their injured arm flared up in protest.

_“S-Stop! Let them GO!!”_

Frisk tried to twist out of the Memoryhead’s grasp, glimpsing Alphys rushing forward, her magical electricity fizzling about her claws. However, another tendril from the nearby Memoryhead grabbed her by the tail and flung the scientist away. She skidded across the grimy tiles and landed hard with  a pained cry.

 _“Alphys!”_ Frisk cried. The scientist tried to push herself up in response, only to collapse on the floor once again, unmoving.

 

**_…LET ME HELP YOU._ **

 

Startled, the human turned back to the Memoryhead which now held them captive. They were being held outwards from the being, a good five feet away…

… steadily being lowered, face-to-face with the sockets of the DT Extractor.

 

**_IT’S… STRANGE HOW MUCH A SINGLE PART OF YOU CAN CAUSE YOU MUCH SUFFERING._ **

 

Frisk’s throat went dry.

Their gaze darted to the pit below the suspended machine. They were now aware of several blinking buttons, meters and levers upon a control panel, in the darkness.

Another part of Memoryhead materialised at the controls, several white tendrils reaching out at them.

Frisk realized their intent, as the hulking machine before them began to hum to life.

And they suddenly began to twist and struggle as hard as they could.

The eyes all focused on Frisk.

 

**_IF YOU RETURN UP THERE, HE’LL KILL YOU. HE’LL REMEMBER. THEREFORE, HE’LL WIN._ **

 

Frisk went pale.

They watched as the Memoryhead at the controls began to type rapidly, making adjustments and calibrating. The hollow sockets before them began to become filled with light.

 

**_I WILL GRANT YOU MERCY. I WILL REMOVE YOUR DETERMINATION._ **

 

Memoryhead began to twitch, the many faces upon it appearing dazed, once more.

 

**_AND I… WILL REMOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU THAT YOU DESPISE. I… WILL ISOLATE THAT FROM YOU…_ **

 

 _“NO!”_ The human yelled back, trying to pull themself up to the tendrils that bound them - but hissing when their injured arm flared up in pain, once more. “Let _go_ of me! You don’t know what you’re _doing!”_

Frisk gave a yelp as the being seemed to flinch, causing them to jostle about in the air. They shut their eyes, straining against the grip with all their strength.

They wouldn’t give up here… They couldn’t!

They had to stay determined!

  


**_IT’S_ ** **_NOT_ ** **_… PART OF YOU._ **

  


They felt a shock of pain, flaring in their chest. But they continued to strain harder and harder against the resistance of the grip. They focused on their escape.

…And were startled to feel the relentless hold loosen, the slightest bit.

  


**_IT DOESN’T…_ ** **_HAVE_ ** **_TO BE PART OF YOU…_ **

  


Frisk’s eyes shot open.

The voices of the Memoryhead - or at least, their tone - had changed.

The pain in their chest fading, Frisk looked down at the Memoryhead at the controls. Its tendrils hovered over the buttons.

But it had suddenly gone still.

 

**_… IT’S… NOT PART OF YOU…_ **

 

Slowly, Frisk looked up to the brass skull that gazed back at them. The human’s expression gave way to confusion. The machine remained at the ready, the eyes lit up - but it did not seem to be powering up any further.

Their captor had made no move to active the extraction process.

 

 **_YOU DIDN’T… YOU DIDN’T DO IT._ ** The voices had become a whisper. **_YOU’RE NOT CAPABLE OF SOMETHING SO TERRIBLE._ **

 

Memoryhead was curling in on itself. The white vortex curled in tightly, its eyes and maw vanishing.

It was trembling.

 

**_YOU DON’T NEED THAT PART. IT’S NOT YOU._ **

 

Frisk felt the grip loosen from their wrists. They still hung suspended in the air, before the DT Extractor.

But the other parts of the creature had not moved. Not even those closest to the control panel - who had shrank away from the buttons.

They all seemed to be trembling, themselves.

 

 **_IT’S NOT… YOU. IT DOESN’T… IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE_ ** **_YOU_ ** **_._ **

 

Frisk peered closer at Memoryhead. Several slits opened up upon its white surface, and the human realized they were eyes - all of them an empty black.

Save one, which had a pupil of a dim, glowing green.

 

**_IT’S BETTER THIS WAY._ **

 

Frisk was silent.

Getting a proper grip on the creature’s tendril, they slid one of their wrists out of its loosened grasp. It did not try to recapture them. It did not even seem to acknowledge that they were there.

Gently, they reached out to the Memoryhead, whose gaze was focused downwards.

 **_… ISN’T IT BETTER THIS WAY?_ ** It whispered.

Frisk opened their mouth.

 

“How can you say that?”

 

Startled by the new voice, they looked down.

Alphys stood below them, looking dishevelled. She cradled the phone in both claws, right up to the side of her head, her posture hunched and trembling.

Above her tearstained cheeks, her gaze remained fierce.

“…I know how you feel.” She said into the speaker. “I-I know exactly how you feel.”

Frisk turned back to the Memoryhead. Its ‘gaze’ was now fixed on her.

“L-look, I know what… what it’s like to not like a part of yourself.” Alphys began. “O-or… not like _any_ part of yourself at all.”

The Memoryhead’s fragments began to twitch, to withdraw from the overhead lighting. Alphys’ gaze fiercened at the creature.

“B-but you…you can’t just… _cut it out_ of someone! E-extracting a part of someone _living_ … I-I don’t want to _think_ about what it could do to them!!”

The Memoryhead was silent. Alphys stepped forward.

“Y-you’re gonna be _ripping out_ a _part_ of them.” She cried. “Th-that’s completely messed up!!”

Alphys hesitated. Then, looked down.

“Maybe… maybe things would be better if you _could_ just go ahead and do that. But… p-pretending that a piece of someone is… just something you can _cut out,_ o-or _ignore…”_

The scientist looked down. Her gaze grew distant, her eyes growing watery.

“…It’s not going to help anyone.” She said, her expression growing firm, once more. Then, she looked back up at the Memoryhead.

“S-So, you’re going to let my friend _go!_ You’re going to give them back _exactly_ the way they _should_ be!!”

Blinking, Frisk looked back up at their captor.

Many of its eyes had closed. Three, including the single green eye, remained fixed on the scientist.

**_I WANT…_ **

Frisk caught a movement out of the corner of their eye, back at the controls of the great machine. A tendril had peeled off of the white mass next to it, reaching out towards the control panel.

**_I WANT TO FIX THIS…_ **

 

And suddenly, Frisk’s fear dissolved completely.

 

They looked up and squeezed the tendril that still loosely held their wrist. They saw the creature veer away from the controls, once more. The entire being seemed to sag in response, and the human shook their head.

“I don’t know if you… _understand_ it,” they said, gently. “but this isn’t the way to do it. And I think you do _know_ that.”

Suddenly feeling weary, Frisk glanced down at their sweater.

“… I don’t think you’d be _hiding_ like this, otherwise.” They added softly, looking back up at the creature.

There was a long silence.

For a moment, the Memoryhead and Frisk stared at one another. The human still felt shaken, and sick. But they no longer felt as if they were looking at something all that terrifying.

They gave the Memoryhead a patient smile.

 

It flinched away.

 

Frisk understood.

 

It wasn’t long before the human suddenly felt their boots meet solid ground. The Memoryhead had finally lowered them back down.

They released its tendril, looking up at it as it withdrew back into its formless body. It slowly backed away from the human, its final, glowing green eye closing.

It grew featureless once more, and hovered there in silence.

“Frisk…!”

Startled, the human spun to see Alphys, hurriedly rushing to their side.

Frisk couldn’t help but hug her tightly at her approach.The scientist didn’t hesitate to return it, as firmly as she could.

“A-Are you okay?” She asked, her voice wavering but firm. Frisk nodded wordlessly, withdrawing from her and wiping away a few tears that had dribbled down their face with a sleeve.

“I-I’m fine. I’m not hurt.”

The sound of a dial tone filled the air.

Suddenly remembering the other occupants of the room, they both spun to face Memoryhead. It was swirling slowly on the spot, akin to a vortex.

And it seemed to be drawing something in.

Frisk looked around as the other fragments scattered about the room seemed to flicker and twitch. They seemed to disintegrate into white, square fragments, stuttering and flickering about on the spot.

Then, they were all swept in towards the vortex.

Frisk watched as the other parts all gathered in towards the main body. The mass grew larger - seemingly heavier, as it suddenly dropped to the floor before them.

The dim ceiling lighting, now unobstructed, managed to brighten the room. The Memoryhead slowly reformed into its tall, spoon-like form. It coiled into itself like a serpent, its large head resting upon the tiles.

Frisk caught sight of several specks of green light from inside the being as it stilled. They vanished, just as suddenly.

Glancing back at Alphys, the human heard the static buzz from the speaker of their phone. It grew fainter and fainter until it was completely silent.

The scientist stared hard at the phone. Then, with a shaky sigh, she handed it back to Frisk.

“I-I don’t think it… has anything left to say.” She said, wearily. Then, she shot Memoryhead a quick accusatory glance. “But it better not have anything left t-to pull.”

Frisk pocketed the phone, deep in thought.

“… I don’t know if it’s dangerous, anymore.” They said, softly.

Alphys fiddled with her claws, her gaze softening. “M-Maybe not. I-It’s weird. For all the stuff it was saying, i-it… didn’t seem so sure about what it was doing.”

Blinking, Frisk thought on that a moment.

Alphys turned back to the Memoryhead. “B-But we have to be more careful. That was close. It almost _had_ you.”

She shook her head. “I-I’m sorry _I_ almost lost it, back there.” She looked back at Frisk, who’d been rubbing their aching wrists. “I-It looked like _you_ almost did, too.”

The human was startled by that, growing pale. But Alphys only smiled back.

“B-But at least we both hung in there, right?” She added, clenching her claws. “W-we can do this!”

Frisk felt a pang. They glanced down, the Memoryhead’s words from earlier returning to mind.

Again, they tried not to feel sick.

“… um… a-about…”

“Frisk.”

The human looked up at Alphys, who was fiddling with her claws, once more.

“Y-you don’t have to talk about it right now, if you don’t want to.” She looked down. “The properties of Determination for non-monsters… they’re pretty _vague_ , but they aren’t e-exactly _new_ to me. I-I just wasn’t entirely sure of… its full capabilities, you know?”

The human blinked in realization, recalling the exact moment before Alphys and all of their new friends were suddenly bound in thorny vines.

 

—

 

_“…A tiny… flower?”_

 

—

 

It made sense for the scientist to at least know a bit about SAVEs. Someone of her creation had relentlessly been abusing that power.

Frisk took in a deep breath.

“I… I can explain a bit.” They said, unable to conceal the shakiness of their voice.

Alphys nodded. “J-Just take your time with it, okay? I-I know how hard it is to talk about some things.”

Suddenly shaking her head, she looked around.

“I-If we’ll even _have_ the time.” She added, dejected. “W-we have to get back to the CORE… but so much time has passed…”

A humming dial tone sounded from the phone, once more.

Frisk was startled as Memoryhead suddenly rose from its coiled position, to float in the air. It swirled, morphing into its strange, otherworldly form as before.

Frisk noted there were far less mouths and eyes.

Its gaze darted to the hall to the right.

Looking back at Frisk and Alphys, it swept through the air, down the hall - almost like a comet. Little white square particles trailed after it.

Frisk and Alphys exchanged a glance.

“… Where’s it going?”

The human turned to see the being continuing down into the darkness of the hall.

A chirplike beep sounded from the phone in Frisk’s pocket. Alphys frowned at the sound.

“What now?

Frisk took the phone out of their pocket, blinking.

“… is it… asking us to follow?” They asked.

Alphys’ eyes grew wide and incredulous.

“A-after all _that?”_

They both stared after the Memoryhead. It had stopped up a little ways down the hall, and had now turned to face them.

The human made a face.

Then, they glanced over at the still-activated DT Extractor.

“… c-can we at least leave the room?” Frisk asked.

Alphys glanced at Frisk. Then, she looked back down the hall, where the Memoryhead patiently hovered.

The scientist drew in a deep breath, and summoned an electric bubble shield.

“J-just stay behind me, okay?” She asked.

 

The two darted after the Memoryhead, deep into the darkness.

  
  


* * *

 

  
  


Everything was dark.

 

Everything hurt.

 

The lights were dim.

 

There was noise, pain and burning.

 

He swiped at a snarling face that shot right at him, kicked out at another. His jaws clamped into bone and he tossed aside a shrieking skull.

He didn’t know what was happening. He didn’t know where he was.

He just had to run. Keep running. Keep moving away from the danger.

But the danger swarmed him, and he didn’t know where to go.

There seemed to be many. They floated in the air, soaring and whizzing past him with snaps and screeches. They were light. They were moving too fast.

He kept hearing whispers, shrieks and cries - but he couldn’t understand them. They babbled on and on and on…

Something collided _hard_ into the side of his ribcage, and he let out a yowl. But before he could swipe at the offending skull, something else barrelled past him, butting it away with a long and slender skull.

It was long enough for him to take in a deep breath, tapping into all of his frustration, and he threw back his head.

He let out an earsplitting _roar._ The flames sparked within his jaws, as It filled the air and echoed off the walls.

The swarm of skulls scattered in a blur, hissing and shrieking at him as they backed off.

The flames fizzled out in his maw, and he shut his jaws - only to realize that he was not alone. He spun to see the only thing that had not fled from his anger.

The creature hadn’t noticed him. It around at the area, the beginnings of a blast spluttering within its slender jaws

 

Oh.

 

… It was another like him.

 

There was another like him.

The Blaster didn’t know what that meant.

A low rumble sounded in his throat, and the Other spun to face him, startled - the flames vanishing from his jaws. He’d been injured in the swarm of skulls - bite marks and slashes covering his body - but he still seemed alert.

The Other was tall. But young. Younger than him.

The Blaster did not know how he knew this. But his spines grew rigid, and he gave a deep growl.

 

**_< who are you?  >_ **

 

It was a demand. This Other one looked startled. But the shorter Blaster knew nothing, he knew _nothing_ about what was happening.

Was the Other a threat? Was he a danger?

**_< I DON’T KNOW.  >_ **

The Blaster blinked. The Other was staring back at him. He’d chirped the phrase simply, as if he’d never been more certain about anything in his life.

 **_< WHO ARE YOU?  > _ **He asked, his tail wagging the slightest bit.

The Blaster hesitated.

... He realized that he did not know the answer.

He was startled out of his thoughts, noticing that the Other’s face had suddenly lit up.

 **_< YOU LOOK LIKE ME.  > _ **He chirped, mystified.

There was a brief, confused silence.

 

And then, The Other was suddenly tackled off of his feet.

 

The skull swarm had suddenly closed in - colliding into them both, having regained their bearings.

The Other gave a piercing yelp from the impact and the shorter Blaster responded instantly because he suddenly knew that did _not_ want to hear that noise again, he did not need to see anything like this happen again.

He tore into the nearest skull he could see and tossed it away from the Other, who twisted and clawed until he wriggled free of the swarm.

The shorter Blaster escaped more easily. He was not faster, but he was _stronger_ \- and he barrelled his way out of the cluster as quickly as he could, arriving at the Other’s side, facing in the opposite direction as the swarm swirled around the two, surrounding them entirely.

They all grew still, and for the first time, the Blaster saw them clearly.

The Blaster saw many faces like his.

They all stared at the duo, with lifeless, white-ringed eyes and he stepped back.

They all seemed broken, in some way. Their faces were marred and chipped. Some had parts missing.

Some had cracks, travelling across their skulls. They looked like they’d been smashed to pieces, and then put back together. One was very, very dusty.

And they rambled.

On, and on, and on…

 

_ < Bite! BiTten! WiLL biTe! > _

 

_ < HeRe! TheRe! EvErYwhere! NoWheRe! > _

 

_ < HiDe! HIde! ShOW me! > _

 

_ < TOoTh aNd cLAw aNd tOoth aNd clAW anD tOoth aND - > _

 

**_< … THEY LOOK LIKE US.  >_ **

The Other’s voice was cautious. The shorter Blaster snarled lowly, staring at the many vacant gazes.

 **_< … _ ** **_nothing_ ** **_like us. >_ **

There was _nothing_ in these skulls.

The chirps and trills that spilled from their jaws were fragmented. They spoke haunting, sing-song gibberish. There was no sense to them. Their voices were empty and meaningless.

The Blaster didn’t like it.

Suddenly, light surrounded them. The clicks of jaws splitting open echoed through the hall, angling down at them - and the Blaster swerved around, quickly butting his skull against the Other’s shoulder.

**_< run!  >_ **

The Other didn’t need any more prompting. Both Blasters barrelled through the formation, running as fast as they possibly could - the lasers impacting on the floor feet behind them.

It was clear to see that the Other had nothing to do with the Swarm. The Other was like him. The only one like him. The Other was in danger.

He didn’t like _that_ , either.

 **_< need to leave!  > _ **The Blaster glanced back, seeing the swarm all turn to pursue them.

 **_< WHERE DO WE GO?  > _ **The Other responded, looking around.

The Blaster glanced about. The Other had a point. They were running through a passage that seemed to keep turning, turning, turning in one, big circle. There were… _doors_ and other passages leading to other places, but he didn’t know where they went.

What were they doing here?

Where had they come from? Why were they here…?

Were they all alone?

 **_< wrong…  >_ ** He growled, mutely. He saw the Other look over at him as they ran, and a strangely thoughtful look appeared on his face.

 **_< … WRONG.  > _ ** He agreed, with a nod. **_ < SOMETHING IS WRONG. >_ **

A sense of frustration twisted the Blaster’s chest. It was urgent. Something was wrong and he _couldn’t remember what._

Right now, he could not think on this. They just had to flee from the danger. They had to leave this behind.

They had to run away from all this. They had to leave this place.

They needed to be safe.

He just… had to keep himself and the Other safe.

That was what mattered.

  
  


_… that was all that mattered…_

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	32. A Shield

“So… so you haven’t been able to SAVE.”

 

Yellow boots fell into step behind yellow claws, padding upon the grimy, tiled floor.

Frisk took in a shaky breath.

“No… not since close to the start of all this.” They said, softly. “It’s… it hurts every time.”

The human had been grasping the front of their sweater nervously since they’d begun this conversation, trying to focus hard on simply getting the words out.

The scientist frowned, looking down.

“I see.” She muttered. “Man, it’s, uh - _w-weird_ to be talking about this.” She laughed, nervously. “I-I didn’t think anyone e-except… _Flowey_ knew about this stuff.”

Frisk gave her a weak smile, as Alphys’ face contorted in thought.

“… Y-you know, I always believed that it was _Determination_ that gave… F-Flowey that ability to mess with the timeline. B-but I guess that was only _half_ the picture?” Her claw curled beneath her chin. “You… you said that your ability stopped working around when Gaster became a problem.”

Frisk took in another shaky breath, their smile dropping. “…Uh-huh.”

The human really wished that they were talking about just about anything else.

Frisk had always struggled a lot to voice this topic in the past. Their ability to SAVE wasn’t something they’d wanted to openly discuss with anyone but Sans. But Alphys had been patient, and the human had slowly managed to get out the main points of their story as they’d meandered down the hall.

They’d quickly (and nervously) told the scientist that they didn’t want to use their ability to abuse time, nor did they intend on using it again - but to their surprise, Alphys hadn’t seemed concerned about that at all. She’d smiled reassuredly at them and Frisk realized that she really did trust them on that front. They wondered why they hadn’t expected that.

Instead, she’d seemed more interested in the mechanics behind their ability - trying to piece together how it all worked.

The human was startled out of their thoughts to feel a claw on their shoulder, and looked up at the scientist.

“F-Frisk… we can take a break talking about this for now, if you like.” Alphys said, softly. “I don’t… want to make you remember anything terrible.”

She withdrew her hand. “I just want to know if there’s maybe a reason why… G-Gaster would be chasing _after_ you.”

The human breathed out, releasing their sweater.

“Yeah…”

They frowned, thinking hard. Their nerves were starting to fade.

“… I think I have an idea why Gaster would want me to start from my last SAVE.” Frisk said. “Maybe he wants to… to do things differently?”

Alphys blinked, snapping her fingers.

“O-Of course!” She frowned. “… but that wouldn’t make sense unless he _remembered_ your time travel. A-and, if I’m correct in my theory - only those in _control_ of the timeline remember - right?”

She looked over at Frisk.

“S-so… only _you_ would remember anything, right?”

Frisk frowned, slightly.

“I… I _think_ so.”

There’d been some exceptions to that rule. For instance, they knew Sans never _explicitly_ remembered time jumps. He’d told them that, himself.

But…

They couldn’t help but think of the voice that had screeched from their own phone, about ten minutes earlier.

 

**_—_ **

 

**_HE’LL REMEMBER._ **

**_THEREFORE, HE’LL WIN._ **  
****

**_—_ **

 

Their gaze rose to the white, floating spectre, leading them further and further down the hall.

“… I’m not sure if I’m the only one.” They admitted.

Frisk was startled when the yellow, spherical shield that surrounded them suddenly brightened, humming a little louder. They glanced up at the scientist, who was staring with her eyes narrowed directly at the strange, white creature. Her arm remained high in the air, electricity crackling around her claw.

“You don’t have to keep holding that up, Alphys.” Frisk said, blinking.

“A-a-after what you’ve told me, a-and after what this guy tried to do, I-I’m _not_ taking any chances!” Alphys said, sternly.

Memoryhead moved like a spectre, leaving a trail of white pixels in its wake. The phone at Frisk’s side had made no sound, since they’d left the room.

They’d been trailing after the creature, encased in Alphys’ bubble shield, ever since they’d left the room with the DT Extractor. The scientist had been wary of any potential danger - and even Frisk was still reeling from the terrifying experience that had happened almost ten minutes earlier. But Memoryhead had made no move to attack them, nor block their path.

“I can’t believe we’re following this thing.” The scientist sighed. “D-didn’t it just try to take out a chunk of your SOUL?”

“Yeah.” Frisk said, staring hard at it. “But it knew a lot of things. And I think it _does_ want to help us.”

They frowned. “I just don’t think it really knew the right _way_ to.”

“Do you think it knows any better, now?” Alphys asked, blinking.

The human shook their head. “I’m not sure…”

By all means, Frisk should have felt cautious. Even if this creature no longer meant them harm, it was still a little unpredictable.

All the same, they couldn’t help but feel that Alphys’ shield was probably unnecessary.

The human watched as Memoryhead turned to face them once more, patiently waiting for them to follow.

Frisk waved back at it.

It cowered in response. They lowered their hand, perplexed.

“… F-Frisk, I don’t know what you did, back there…” Alphys muttered, as the Memoryhead hurriedly turned to continue on its way. “… but I think it’s _scared_ of you?”

The human shrugged. “I don’t know.” They turned back to face Alphys with a small smile. “You were the one who really told it off, back there.”

“W-well, yeah! But who the heck would ever be scared of _me?!”_ Alphys huffed, her shield brightening some more.

They continued on down the hall. While the darkness was as encroaching and intimidating as always, Frisk found themselves much more relaxed. The stench of batteries that had assailed them and the screeching electronic noises were all gone.

They couldn’t quite find it in themselves to be afraid of this place.

And the next time the Memoryhead paused to look back at them, it made no further movement at their approach.

Alphys grew hesitant, stopping on the spot.

“What now?” She mumbled, gently pushing Frisk behind her.

The white creature watched them, quietly. Frisk noted another small green glimmer from within it. It seemed to shudder at the glow, a low electronic hum reverberating from it.

The human frowned, concerned enough to step out from behind Alphys.

“What’s the matter?”

The being silenced. And after a short pause, it turned to the hallway wall beside it.

Frisk blinked. It was one of the many large, black monitors that lined the halls of the True Lab. The green text glowed faintly in the darkness, flickering on at their presence.

This monitor was still displaying one of Alphys’ log entries. The Memoryhead tilted its form at the sight, and Alphys suddenly stumbled forward, waving her hands in embarrassment. The electric bubble shield fizzled out as she did so.

“W-wait… wait…” A bead of sweat formed on her head. “That’s not meant to be - I-I was in a bad place when I wrote - ”

Memoryhead suddenly extended a limb to the left of the monitor. The formless limb pressed into the wall - and Frisk was startled to see a small patch of concrete slide away, revealing a small, black, square pad.

Alphys blinked. “… Huh?”

The Memoryhead withdrew its limb. The pad was glassy and dark, and Frisk could see green light flickering within it.

Hesitant, the creature slowly reached for it again, its limb splitting into five points. It pressed them against the surface. A green light scanned downwards, and the device beeped an affirmative.

The large, black monitor suddenly jutted out a little more from the wall. It swivelled into a portrait position, and a very different display of green glyphs appeared upon the black screen.

Frisk squinted at the symbols. They couldn’t read any of them.

Another limb peeled away from the creature, its tip separating into five digits as well. It deftly typed upon the symbols, and Frisk and Alphys were startled when a door-shaped chunk of the neighbouring wall suddenly pushed in with a loud CLANK.

With an electronic hum, it slid up into the ceiling…

 

…revealing a dark, cavernous chamber that Frisk had never seen before.

 

Alphys stepped forward, blinking slowly. She seemed more fascinated than alarmed.

“…Th-this is…”

The room was huge - almost hundreds of feet in length and width, Frisk thought. The floor was industrial concrete, but the walls appeared to have been carved out from the caverns. The lights, connected to wires that snakes up the walls, were dim - a fierce emergency red.

There was a mess of towering machines scattered about at the cavelike walls of the place. The centre of the room was spacious. Pipes and wires snaked up the sides of the room, towards the very top of the cavern.

But what caught Frisk’s attention was the _floor_. It seemed to be covered in burns, and chalk dust - circular glyphs and symbols scrawled out upon it.

A large ’S-7’ was painted in faded yellow upon the concrete floor.

“… what _is_ this place?” The human asked, stepping forward.

Alphys stepped up beside them, her eyes wide as her gaze drifted about the room.

“… Backup generators… power grids…” She looked upwards at the pipes and wires. “… Th-there’s the water supply for the main power chamber…”

Alphys looked over at Frisk, blinking slowly.

“… we’re in the CORE Underground.” She said, in quiet wonder. “I-I was… never allowed down here. It was all sealed off - f-for the most part.”

Frisk blinked, startled.

“… We’re underneath the facility?”

The scientist nodded, still deep in thought as she observed the room. Her gaze rose, and her spines drooped.

_“… Oh my God.”_

Frisk followed her gaze. There, in the upper-corner of the room, was the blinking red light of a security camera.

The red recording light was flickering wildly, and the lens was cracked. Whatever footage it was gaining would not be all that comprehensible.

Alphys carefully wrung her hands.

“… so… this must be where Gaster worked.” She mumbled. “All those years ago.”

Frisk’s stomach dropped at that. They glanced down at the floor.

And were startled to see a myriad of white, dusty shards.

“… Alphys?”

The scientist spun to face Frisk - then her gaze travelled further to the right, her eyes suddenly becoming wide.

_“No way.”_

Frisk turned as well - their gaze following the trail of shards to the shattered remains of a Blaster skull.

It lay scattered at the base of a cylindrical machine, overhanging tubes and wires still attached to what remained of it.

Frisk swallowed, stepping back.

Several more machines of this nature lined the wall. Only one or two were occupied with dusty shards of Blaster remains - the rest had been emptied.

Alphys approached their left, adjusting her glasses. She traded her fear for observation, peering closer at the machines.

“…I-it looks like Gaster made Blasters using these.” She mused, quietly. “… I-It doesn’t look like a lot of them made it out well-developed, though.”

Frisk blinked, slowly. So many shards and chunks appeared to have been left behind by the finished product.

“… The ones Gaster had at the beginning looked a lot less like… _this_.” They knelt beside the lifeless skull on the floor, frowning.

There’d been a time when they’d been deeply afraid of these things. Now, Frisk couldn’t help but see a little of Sans or Papyrus in them.

 

They weren’t sure how to feel about that.

 

The human heard Alphys stepping away from them, and they glanced up. The scientist was heading towards the center of the room, staring at the circular, chalk-white glyphs drawn on the charred concrete.

Frisk stood and hurried after her.

“… What’re these?”

Alphys held her claws, her lenses going white in the dim light.

“… r- _really_ old magic.” She mumbled. “I’m not too familiar with this.”

Frisk blinked. “Old magic?”

Alphys bent down, picking up a bone from the middle of the circle. The human peered closely, realizing that it was actually a fairly large Blaster tooth.

“… he must have made those first Blasters using _this_ method.” Alphys said, quietly. “Th-these are arcane circles - h-he must have taken these teeth… and infused them with magic the old-fashioned way.”

She looked back the the machinery. “B-but maybe he started… wanting to speed up production…?” A claw rose to her chin. “I-I wonder what materials he used? They’re not like any other creature I’ve seen in the Underground…”

It probably wasn’t a question that was going to be answered anytime soon, Frisk thought. Gaster’s methods of crafting weaponry were perhaps too old-fashioned or complicated for them to comprehend.

“…Oh!”

Frisk was startled out of their thoughts as Alphys suddenly dropped the tooth. They followed her gaze, noticing that there was a large, hulking door at the end of the room. It reached upwards, almost halfway up to the cavernous ceiling.

And to the right, there was a huge wall filled _entirely_ with switches. Below these switches was a control panel that curved inwards like a ‘C’ shape, the many buttons dimly flickering.

Frisk blinked, as Alphys scurried over. The wall reminded them of those old fuse boxes they’d seen outside of houses on the Surface - only there were ten times more switches than they remembered.

“What’s that?” They asked, as Alphys arrived at the control panel. She began reading the labels on the buttons.

“ ‘Upper Hotland…’ ‘Snowdin Town…’ ’King Asgore’s Castle…’ “

Frisk watched as the scientist’s features brightened.

“… I-It’s the power network! Th-this is where the CORE distributes its power into the entire Underground!”

Her eyes suddenly grew wide in terror.

“… He must have redistributed power to the CORE itself! N-no wonder the CORE’s getting more unstable!”

Frisk rushed over. “Can you shut it off?”

Alphys shook her head. “This is a redistributor. I-I still need to get to the CORE controls to try shutting it down.”

Her gaze grew firm. “B-But I can definitely buy us some time, so the CORE’s not under so much pressure!”

Alphys got to work, her claws stampeding at the controls.

“W-we’ll still need some power to make our way back up to the main control floor. But I’m not letting this place get overloaded!”

Frisk nodded. Then, they blinked and looked over their shoulder, back towards the passage of the True Lab.

Glowing faintly in the darkness, Memoryhead still lingered at the doorway.

It appeared nervous.

Hesitant at first, Frisk turned to face it.

“…Aren’t you gonna come with us?” They asked. The being seemed to flinch away at the question.

“C-come _with_ us?” Alphys’ voice sailed over their shoulder. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Frisk turned to face the scientist.

“… I don’t know if it’s a good idea to be left alone in there.” They said, with a small frown.

The scientist blinked, looking down at the controls.

“… you can say that again.” She said, her claws beginning to stampede on the buttons.

The human turned and hurried back over to the True Lab passage. Memoryhead observed them in silence, its warped features all narrowing as it withdrew slightly. Frisk stopped up, a good five feet away from it.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” They said, waving their hands. The creature seemed a little more at ease, leaning back in towards the doorway. Yet Frisk noted they seemed hesitant to venture any further.

“You knew about this place.” They said.

Three eyes opened on the creature. The gaze was astray, as if hesitant, and Frisk crossed their arms in thought.

“You really know a lot about the Lab and the CORE, huh?”

Memoryhead grew still. Frisk watched it, startled, as another green glimmer seemed to illuminate their being, briefly.

It twitched and flickered on the spot, and the human stepped forward, hands raised.

“Sorry.” They said, quickly. “A-are you okay?”

The Memoryhead stilled. Its eyes closed, and its spectral form seemed to droop a little, as if weighed down.

Frisk lowered their hands. The creature looked exhausted, and the human feared that it would vanish at any second.

So, they took a deep breath.

 

“… We really need to save our friends.”

 

The Memoryhead’s three eyes reopened. Frisk stood up straight to face it.

“… I know you’re scared… but if there’s anything else you can do to help us, we’d really appreciate it.” They said, softly.

There was a silence. Frisk glanced down at the shards of bone on the ground, from the shattered Blaster skull, nearby.

“I’m pretty scared, too.” They smiled. “You already know that.”

They were startled when a white limb reached forward into their vision. Blinking, they stepped back as the Memoryhead slowly picked up a bone shard from the ground.

The shard crumbled to dust in its grasp.

The being looked down at Frisk, another green glimmer rippling through its form. It seemed more concentrated, this time - focusing in on its center.

Hesitant, the human extended a hand.

“… Maybe you shouldn’t be in the lab, at the very least.” They offered, with a small shrug.

_“N-nobody should!”_

Frisk spun around, startled to hear Alphys’ voice calling across the room from the controls.

 _“Nothing good ever- ever happens there!”_ The lizard monster added, still hammering at the buttons.

She’d briefly turned to eye the Memoryhead with some suspicion. The creature veered back, slightly.

Her gaze dropped to Frisk, and she gave a quick smile before turning back to the controls. The lights began to dim, slightly - the power-down causing the facility’s turbines to groan.

Frisk turned back to the Memoryhead, still hovering at the True Lab’s doorway. It had lost its features, once more, as it gazed down at the pile of bone shards.

With renewed certainty, Frisk held out their hand, again.

“You can stick real close to us, if you like.” They offered.

Memoryhead hesitated.

Then, it drifted forward, finally leaving the Lab that it had haunted for years.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_< HuNtInG!  >_

 

_< LoOk LiKE us! LoOK liKe US! LoOK AT US!  >_

 

_< fAStER FaStER fAStER FAsTeR!  >_

 

_< wATcHing yOU! WaTCHinG yOU!! SeE YoU!!  >_

 

 

It was dark. 

The dim lighting that remained was an all-encompassing violet. It seeped into the steel walls. It stained them.

The beast heard the chatter from far behind him. It echoed everywhere. Shrieks and roars and growls.

 

_< BrOkE it! BrOKe iT! BReAk aNd bRoKE!  >_

 

_< He’LL bE ANgRieR aNd AnGrIEr ANd aNgRIEr aND aNgRieR -  >_

 

_ < SHaRds aNd DUsT! DuSTy sHaRDs! >_

 

_< WHere ArE yOU? WhERe aM I? WHerE Are tHEy?  >_

 

**Out.**

 

The beast wanted to get out. 

 

Away from those voices, away from those faces, away from… whatever had put them here in the first place.

He did not want to be here. Not for any longer.

His claws pounded the steel beneath him. And the claws of the Other kept pace beside him. The taller, slender skeletal creature who’d been with him since…

 

… since the _beginning?_

 

When had that been?

It didn’t matter. He had to escape this place. The both of them did.

That was all that mattered. Nothing else.

The two of them had been running for a while, now. There was no move to fight back. There were too many skulls. Too many faces.

Too many jaws saying too many things.

The beast didn’t like it.

They’d been chased - away from the circular passage that they’d awoken in. They’d turned left, right… up and down steps. They’d retreated away from the violet light that seeped into everything, and run deep into the darkness.

They could see, at the very least. But they were still lost. The beast didn’t know where they were. He couldn’t remember.

He only remembered… a room. Lights blinking in front of him.

A tall, dark figure.

Hands. Many of them. Hands with holes that surged forward.

 

Driving into his forehead.

 

His sternum constricted, and he shook his head. 

No. No thinking.

He did not want to think on that any further. Useless thoughts.

He just wanted to get _out._

Something caught his eyesocket, to the left. A break in the darkness. A change in the wall that rushed by him.

Snapping to attention, he spun to the Other.

**_< this way!  >_ **

He grasped the Other’s upper foreleg gently - but firmly - in his jaws, and slammed on the brakes with a screech. The Other gave a startled yelp, but he didn’t lose momentum as he was redirected.

It was a turnoff. A new direction.

They’d both arrived at a long hall -  a dim, blue light glimmering at the very end.The steel beneath them changed in pattern. The ceiling above them was plaster, instead of steel.

Something different. Something new.

That was a start.

The whine of a laser charge filled the air, and the Beast and the Other exchanged a glance. They both ducked down, a flurry of laser fire shooting over their heads.

He felt his spines burn and he gave a yowl as the heat of the blasts scorched him. The skulls pursuing them chattered from a good distance behind them.

The Beast knew that the duo could not duck into shelter, nor change direction. They were trapped in a straight line.

There was a screech on steel as he suddenly slammed his claws into the floor, screeching to a stop. He whirled around, laser fire and smoke building up in his jaws.

 ** _< B a c k !  >_** He roared.

The Other spun to join him as they both shot lasers up into the ceiling of the hall. Smoke and debris clattered down from above their pursuers. They spun away and continued to run.

Most of the horde that had pursued them were chattering and shrieking in the confusion of the chaos. Two skulls, however, had charged through the smoke - making a beeline towards the retreating skeletal creatures.

 The skulls would not stop. The Beast knew this. They would keep being chased if they kept running like this. 

 But if he could distract them…

He glanced over to the Other, blinking.

If he distracted them, then one of them could get to safety…

The Beast wanted to leave this place. He knew that.

But there was something more important than that, he knew.

He spun around to face the oncoming skulls. The Other noticed this, and stumbled to a stop.

**_< WHAT ARE YOU DOING?  >_ **

The Beast snarled back at him, with urgency.

**_< you go! keep moving!  >_ **

Protecting… yes. He would distract them, he would take the fire. The Other could get away, unharmed.

It made sense. He didn’t understand why, but that didn’t bother him, anymore. It felt right.

The Other needed to be protected.

The two other skulls charged forward, light gathering in their maws. His tail twitched, as he began to do the same.

 

And then, he was shoved aside by a force far too strong to be a single skull.

 

The two beams of light skimmed past him, barely singing his shoulderblade.

The frustration was instant. He spun and snapped at the culprit - and was startled when he realised it was the Other.

He'd crouched beside the Beast, having ducked out of the way of the blast himself. The Other snarled back over at him, and the Beast growled, confused.

 ** _< i said to go!  >_** said the Beast, spines raised.

 ** _< WHAT ABOUT YOU?!  >_** The Other said, huffing.

The Beast shook his head. **_< chasing us both.  >_** He turned back to the two skulls, who had swung around, preparing for another attack. **_< you keep moving. i stop them.  >_**

The Other snorted, like some kind of stubborn pup.

**_< NO.  >_ **

There was a pause.  
****

**_< no?  > _**The Beast asked.

 ** _< YOU CAN’T.  > _**The Other replied, almost incredulously. **_< YOU’RE TOO SLOW.  >_**

There was a brief pause.

Then, the Beast swiped out a claw, tripping up the Other’s foreleg.

The lankier of the skeletal creatures fell forward with a yelp, out of the path of the laser blast. The Beast dodged just as quickly, as the two skulls swept over them with incessant chatter.

 ** _< ‘slow?’  > _** he chuffed down at him.

He yowled in surprise as the grounded Other kicked up into his sternum, and he staggered back.

 ** _< SLOW.  > _**The Other sprang to his feet, ducking down to avoid a skull that had flown in from above. ** _ < SLOW… AND _** **_LAZY!_ ** **_WHY DON’T YOU RUN?! >_ **

The Beast gave a low growl back. **_< _** **_you_ ** **_run! stay out of my way! >_ **

The Other seemed to bristle at this, stepping back.

There was a loud shriek from their left. The Beast reacted, but not fast enough - instead it was the Other who had responded, spinning on the spot in time to face an incoming skull.

It shrieked, gathering light in its maw - but he darted forward, clamping his jaws over its own snout. He tossed it hard against the wall. It bounced off and across the floor, before righting itself in the air and speeding off with a shriek.

The Other turned to look back at him stubbornly, his tail giving a proud wag.

**_< STAYING _ ** **_HERE!_ ** **_ >_** He huffed.

The Beast's patience was running thin. He heard the second skull swoop in from beside him, and he immediately snapped to attention - leaping up and swiping down at the creature. The skull hit the ground and it screeched as he landed upon it, forepaws shattering it into shards. It fell silent.

 ** _< numbskull!!  >_** He spat at the Other.

The taller skeletal creature shoved him, snarling.

**_< KNUCKLEHEAD!!  >_ **

A shriek sounded, and they both spun to face the source, startled.

The battered skull that the Other had tossed earlier hovered at their left. It floated in front of the smoke that the two of them had created - and several other floating skulls were emerging from the haze.

Sweat beaded on the Beast’s forehead.

They had been too loud. Waited too long.

 ** _< move!!  >_** The Beast snapped at the Other, turning to face the horde. But he suddenly felt a tug around his neck, and he was being pulled and yanked backwards.

The Other had bitten down on some strange, soft material that was embedded in his collarbone.

**_< _ ** **_YOU_ ** **_MOVE! >_** The Other growled at him, muffled.

As a bright light formed in the maws of the other skulls, the Beast realized that there was no room for argument, this time. He turned away from the horde, and the Other released him as they charged away. The collective laser impacted feet from them.

Sparks and smoke blew out from behind them, and the two continued dashing down the hall, towards the light of the exit.

They drew closer and closer. They were almost ready to leave this place behind.

And just as suddenly as the Beast had begun to feel the relief of escape, the light was blotted out.

The two of them slammed on the brakes as several floating skulls clustered before them, at the doorway.

 ** _< how did they… ?  >_** The Beast stepped back, snarling. Then, he caught sight of a turnoff, further up the hall - close to the exit.

He glanced over his shoulder, seeing the remainder of the group emerging from the smoke.

The group of skulls had split up and _surrounded_ them.

They may have been broken and nonsensical, but they functioned well enough as a pack.

Fire built in his jaws. They could try breaking through - but they would be swarmed again.

A low snarl vibrated through his chest. Roaring and lasers could only work for so long. What else could they do?

 ** _< we go forward.  > _**He said.

**_< NO.  >_ **

The Beast spun to the Other - who was, strangely, staring up at the ceiling. He followed his gaze, blinking when it arrived at the cracks in the plaster. A couple small chunks fell free - loose from the blast they’d done, earlier.

 ** _< WE GO UP.  > _**The Other said, fire crackling in his jaws.

And with that, he shot the beam up into the ceiling.

Debris clattered down. Dust and plaster billowed out from the impact, and the floating skulls were thrown in disarray once more.

The Beast ducked back out of the way of the falling debris. He could barely make out the Other rearing up on his hind legs, clawing away chunks of plaster at the large hole in the ceiling, before pulling himself up through the opening.

He turned on the spot and peered back down, his eye sockets glowing orange in the darkness.

**_< FOLLOW ME!  >_ **

The Beast heard the loud, confused chatters and cries in the haze around him, and quickly leapt up through the hole the Other had made. He had to wriggle a bit to get through - his ribcage was wider than that of the Other.

Besides the dim light and smoke that billowed up from the newly-made hole, they found themselves in pitch blackness. It was another long dark hall, the Beast could see - much like the one they’d left. The floor was tiled, rather than steel. There was no sign of light - not even in the direction where the exit had been.

The chatter of the other skulls rose from beneath them, and the Beast crouched down, suddenly cautious.

 ** _< quiet.  >_** He rumbled. The Other picked up on his behaviour and dipped his head, his body crouched and careful.

The Beast glanced down at their newly-made escape, still billowing with smoke.

 ** _< need to leave.  >_** He said. ** _ < skulls will see. they’ll come through, soon. >_**

The Other nodded. **_< WE’LL FIND ANOTHER WAY, THEN.  >_** He began to trot down the darkened hall - but paused when the Beast didn't follow, instead remaining poised at the hole.

**_< … WHAT IS IT?  >_ **

The Beast looked up at him.  
****

**_< they’ll keep following.  > _**He said. **_< we make too much noise. they’ll keep chasing us.  >_**

He looked back down at the hole, then turned to look behind him.

**_< exit is close.  >_ **

He deftly hopped over the hole, walking past the Other. He positioned his skull facing downwards, at the none-too-blastproof tiled floor - and the layer of plaster ceiling beneath it.

The Beast would drop behind the pack, this way. Leading them away from the exit.

 ** _< i’ll distract.  >_** He said, his bottom jaw clicking open, and fire beginning to spark in his teeth. **_< you go the other way. get away before they see you. escape.  >_**

There was a pause.

 

**_< NO.  >_ **

 

The flames died in his jaws. He turned to face the Other, his orange-lit eye sockets narrowed in the darkness.

 ** _< TOO MANY TO FIGHT ALONE.  >_** He said. **_< WE GO FIND A WAY AROUND.  >_**

The Beast turned on him.

 ** _< you need to be safe.  >_** He said, firmly. **_< you’ll be hurt.  >_**

The Other frowned.

 ** _< TOLD YOU BEFORE. I’M NOT LEAVING.  >_** He said, simply.

The Beast blinked.

**_< why?  >_ **

**_< YOU’RE BEING DUMB.  >_** Came the reply. **_< IT’S A DUMB IDEA.  >_**

The Beast snarled in frustration. The Other was being too stubborn. ~~(As usual.)~~

 ** _< you listen.  >_** He growled. **_< supposed to listen to me. trust. >_**

The Other seemed to shrink back at this.

 ** _< I NEED TO HELP YOU.  >_** He said, firmly.

The Beast huffed, turning back to face the floor.

**_< you don’t need to. don’t have to worry.  >_ **

**_< WHY SHOULDN’T I?!  >_** Came a low growl. **_< YOU CAN’T EVEN PROTECT YOURSELF!  >_**

There was a sudden silence.

The Beast turned to face the Other, eyesockets gleaming light blue. His sternum was tight, his tail beginning to twitch.

 **_< say that again.  > _**He growled, his voice soft and dangerous.

The stubborn _pup_  had the nerve to snarl back.

**_< YOU CAN’T PROTECT YOURSELF!! I CAN’T LEAVE YOU ALONE -  >_ **

 

Something in the Beast snapped.

 

He was flying at the Other with claws outstretched before he even registered it.

His claws slammed down on the side of the Other's ribcage and the taller skeletal creature was slammed onto his side - pinned to the floor. He'd been too startled to dodge.

And just as suddenly as the Beast had acted, a pang shot through his chest.

 

_Wrong._

 

Still, the Beast remained there, snarling lowly. The Other struggled under his claws, pushing back with an indignant growl.

**_< GET OFF!!  >_ **

**_< no.  >_** He growled. He was trying to be reasonable. Trying to make the Other see. **_< you get away from here. you run, and be safe. i will be _** **_fine_ ** **_. >_ **

**_< NO, YOU _ ** **_WON’T._ ** **_ >_** The Other growled, lowly.

He began to struggle, again - and the Beast grew frustrated.

**_< quiet! they’ll find us!  >_ **

**_< I HAVE TO GET YOU OUT OF HERE!  >_** The Other shot back, growling louder, pushing harder against his claws.

 ** _< no!  >_** He hissed back down **_< you can’t stay! i can’t protect you like this!  >_**

The Beast was startled when the Other suddenly stopped struggling. His orange-lit eyesockets had grown wide, and confused.

 **_< ...P-PROTECT…?  >_ **  
****

The Beast hesitated for a second. It cost him - and he was finally shoved away. He stumbled backwards as the Other sprang to his feet, turning to stare at him.

**_< _ ** **_I’M_** **_SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING_ ** **_YOU!_** **_ > _**He said, incredulous.

The Beast stepped back, blinking.

 

_ … huh? _

 

There was a loud screech. 

He ducked down, as another floating skull shot out of the darkness and whipped over his spines. It seemed to be alone, having wandered from the main group, up through the hole in the floor. The Other snapped at it, and it darted away, light gathering in its jaws.

The Beast charged forward, shoving the Other out of the beam’s path. They both continued to run down the dark hall with the momentum. The laser skimmed over their heads and illuminated their surroundings in a blinding white.

The Beast spun to the Other, growling lowly.

 ** _< wrong!  > _**He said. **_< it’s _** **_my_** **_job!_ ** **_i_** **_protect_ ** **_you!_** **_ >_ **

That was the way it was supposed to be. That was the way it had _always_ been! Where had the Other gotten such a strange idea?

 ** _< YOU’RE HURT!!  >_** The Other shot back at him, the rage disappearing from his expression. **_< THIS PLACE IS… IT’S  HURTING YOU!! YOU NEED TO LEAVE! >_**

Another blast skimmed over their backs. The area lit up in burning white, once again

And in the illumination, the Beast saw the crack in the Other’s eye socket, clear as day.

 

And for a brief second, he could have sworn that he'd seen a large, black, gaping hole - right there in the Other’s head.

 

The image vanished, and the Beast hurriedly shook his head, growling lowly.

 ** _< they’ll get you.  >_** He shot back, insistently. **_< they’ll get you, again! now, go!  >_**

The Other shook his head again, and the Beast saw distress in his features, this time. The taller skeletal creature glanced over his shoulder, stopping in his tracks and kicking out with his back legs at the pursuing skull.

It went flying back with the impact, with an indignant screech.

The Beast stumbled to a stop as the Other suddenly darted forward, into his path. The orange light in his eyes were blazing, as he swerved to face him.

 ** _< YOU  ALWAYS DO THIS!! >_** He cried.

The Beast froze. He stepped back, eyesockets wide.

**_< YOU ALWAYS GET HURT! YOU ALWAYS GET TIRED!! I NEED TO PROTECT YOU!!  >_ **

There was a long silence. Something was stirring in the Beast's mind. A conflict. A voice.

It wasn’t… this wasn’t supposed to _happen_. The Other was not meant to worry, not like this.

~~ (But he did. He had - he _always_ had.) ~~

A wave of dizziness overcame the the Beast, and he shook out his skull.

This was...

... how long had things been like this?

**_< YOU ARE TIRED. YOU ALWAYS ARE.  >_ **

****The Beast looked over at the Other, who was now staring down at the tiles.

 ** _< AND NOW YOU ARE HURT.  > _**He whined, quietly. **_< IF... IF I LEAVE YOU ALONE, NOW…  >_**

He looked back up at the Beast.

**_< … YOU MIGHT NOT COME BACK.  >_ **

 

A chill went through his bones. He took a step back.

Was he... had he really not considered any of this? He was trying to _protect_ the Other, not  _abandon_ him.

... but that wasn't the problem, was it? The Beast was... he was strong. He was strong, he could _fix_ this. He could distract the floating skull swarm, he could control the situation. The Other would be safe, and then everything would be okay.

He could _fix_ this... he could _control_ this... he could _protect_...

... why didn't any of that sound right, anymore?

 

**_< YOU’LL DISAPPEAR.  >_ **

 

The Beast looked up, no longer in his thoughts. The Other was staring hard into space, and he realized that he was trembling - his bones rattling softly with tremors.

**_< YOU’LL DISAPPEAR, AND I WON’T SEE YOU, ANYMORE. I WON’T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE!  >_ **

Something clenched in the Beast’s own SOUL.

 ** _< I AM STAYING HERE!  >_** The Other snarled at him. **_< SO YOU DON’T… DO ANYTHING STUPID!!  >_**

There was a long silence.

The Beast stared at the Other in the darkness. He found himself without anything to say, or do.

Nothing he'd thought before sounded right, anymore. The Beast wasn't sure if it was because he'd given up, or... simply because he'd been wrong. This wasn't about fixing things, quickly. 

His gaze lowered under the Other's stare.

 

**_< i…  >_ **

 

There was a series of shrieks, and the Other’s upset gaze grew startled - directed over the Beast’s shoulder. He snapped to attention and spun around, stepping backwards to the Other’s side. 

Several pairs of glowing white rings rose out the gaping hole in the floor. The light illuminated their surroundings the slightest bit - casting stark shadows on the chipped and marred surfaces of the pointed, jagged skulls.

The horde had found them.

The Beast stepped back. He did not shoot, nor move to run. His mind was full - stunned. He couldn’t think of a plan.

He didn't have control... he couldn't fix anything. He understood, now.

He'd failed. He'd been weak. He'd been foolish. 

The Beast had been weak, in many ways. Some small part of himself felt ashamed that his physical strength had not been enough to eliminate the danger. But there were other parts, he knew. Other parts that had been rash, and fearful and selfish. 

He'd done this.

A small voice rose in his consciousness, and his head rose - watching the Other step forward. He'd moved in front of him, giving a brief rattle of his bones as if to intimidate the swarm of skulls that chattered their teeth in response.

The Beast looked up at the group, his bones feeling as heavy as stone.

_... he'd done this..._

 The light gathered in the jaws of the horde. The Other was poised in his stance, ready to jump back…

 

And suddenly, a throbbing pain wracked the Beast's skull.

 

He flinched, a low, surprised snarl escaping him. It was in his eye socket. It was... flashing, lighting up the pitch black area with yellow and blue...

The Other had noticed. He’d quickly spun to face the Beast, his eye sockets wide and alarmed.

**_< WHAT IS THAT?!  >_ **

An electronic hum surrounded them all. It was loud - almost deafening for the Beast. The Other seemed to register it, suddenly looking around, alert. A couple of the skulls seemed to be reacting similarly, inspecting the air nearby. But the main bulk of the horde were still more interested in approaching the two skeletal creatures.

One skull floated closer, snarling as its surroundings grew lit by the fire in its teeth.

The electric hum suddenly became a loud screech. Instinctively, the Beast braced himself.

 ** _< get down.  >_** He whispered.

A streak of black sliced across the air in front of the approaching floating skull.

 

It shattered into shards.

 

The air sliced open around them - gashes of blackness even darker than their surroundings. An earsplitting roar echoed through the halls.

The skull horde began to shriek and scatter, swarming about in a confused panic. One skull clattered to the floor, several clean holes punctured in its jaw as it rattled upon the tiled floor, chattering loudly as shards dropped off it.

The Beast paid no attention. Instead, he’d crouched to the floor, eyesockets narrowed in pained focus.

It was like something was trying to split his skull open.

The pain was immense, but he focused hard. He shut his bad eye and ducked his head down, hearing the skulls dart about in panic.

He watched as one flew into a rift. He watched as several holes suddenly tore into its fragile cranium. The lights in its eyesockets went out before it hit the tiled floor with a _smash_.

His gaze darted to the Other. He too, had ducked down - with the same wariness about the black scars in the air.

The Beast shut both eyes, his skull throbbing terribly.

He had no control over any of this. It was a horrible pain. But it was _familiar_.

... It was another familiar piece. Another memory. He could _process_ that, now.

He stubbornly held onto the thoughts he had, the feelings, the hazy memories that he’d seen. Everything in this moment.

The Beast held on to what he _had_.

It was moments before he’d realised that the roaring of the dark rifts stopped. The cacophony had faded, giving way to the muted chatterings of skulls.

Relief flooded him as the pain in his head grew less and less intense. He shakily tried to rise onto his feet, managing to take in his darkened, blurred surroundings.

The rifts were gone. But they had obliterated much of the horde. The remainder, seven more skulls, drifted about aimlessly in stunned confusion.

His gaze flicked to the Other. He was still crouched, and safe, quietly staring down at the dusty shards upon the tiled floor.

 ** _< … F-FEEL ILL.  >_** He trilled, shakily.

The sound of static suddenly trickled into the Beast’s senses. He blinked, finding it familiar. It was a call.

He knew it. The Other knew it, too. And so did the other floating skulls.

The horde suddenly aligned into a perfect formation, drifting away from the two of them.

 

_< SaFe.  >_

 

_< NeEd tO Be sAFe.  >_

 

_< HE’s hERe. hE’ll FIx uS.  >_

 

_< FIx It! fiX IT! FIX IT!  >_

 

The skulls whizzed past them, down the hall and into the darkness. Their chattering echoed off the walls, before finally fading into silence.

The two glanced at each other a moment.

Then, they both crumpled to the ground, exhausted.

The Other panted heavily, while the Beast trembled with fatigue. His skull was throbbing. His mind was full, trying to sort through the things he’d managed to hold onto.

He was annoyed at how hard it was to put the pieces together. Hard to think. The Beast knew things were muddled, out of place. He pushed against the haze that plagued him, tried to reach out to the fragments.

But was no good. He was stressed, exhausted. He couldn't fix this.

Not at the moment.

 

**_< … NO GOOD.  >_ **

 

His gaze darted to the Other, who was pushing himself back up on his long, shaky legs. His eyesockets briefly flickered white, briefly, before he looked over at him.

**_< … I WANT TO PROTECT YOU. YOU WANT TO PROTECT ME.  >_** He looked down, frowning. **_< WE ARE NOT VERY GOOD AT THIS.  >_**

The Beast chuffed, quietly.

It was odd. Silly, even. Now more than ever, the Beast was afraid for the Other. But all the same, he knew he could rely on him.

What was that called? What did that mean?

 ** _< …are we a pack?  > _**He asked, doubting the word as it slipped out.

The Other tilted his head in thought.

 ** _< DON’T THINK SO.  >_** He said. **_< WE’RE NOT CARRYING ANYTHING.  >_**  
****

There was a long silence.

And the Beast snorted in laughter.

As much as he _could_ laugh with a mouth like this, anyway. The Other huffed in response, trotting over and clamping his jaws around the remains of the Beast's hood, trying in vain to tug him to his feet.

 ** _< YOU NEVER CARRY MUCH, ANYWAY.  >_** The Other said, with a muffled growl. **_< LAZYBONES.  >_**

The Beast’s tail flicked amusedly from side to side, and he stopped laughing, batting him away.

 ** _< baby bones.  > _**He retorted.

The Other released him, drawing back.

 ** _< I’M NOT.  >_** He said, pointedly.

The Beast nodded, the pang returning to his sternum.

 ** _< no. you’re not.  >_** he agreed.  
****

Their attention was taken by a sudden flicker of light. Their gaze was drawn further up towards the source - a steel hall drenched in violet light.

The Beast rose to his feet, his spines raising, slightly. Then, he stalked forward.

The Other followed, trotting ahead and peering around the corner. The Beast walked around him, peering down the hall from the other side.

A ball of churning light met his gaze. Surrounded by a circular passage. Blast burns everywhere - in the tiled floor and walls.

The Beast felt his sternum tighten.

 ** _< … back where we started.  >_** he crooned.

The lasers, the shrieks… the hands. The violet.

 

They hadn’t escaped from this, after all.

 

He shook his head.

No, he decided. They weren’t _meant_ to escape. He’d been afraid of this place. And he still was - but he couldn’t humour that, right now.

A small voice pushed him on.

They’d been here for a reason. They had woken up in that small room for a _reason_. They just needed to figure out what.

 ** _< DON’T SEE ANY SKULLS.  >_** The Other pointed out, with a trill. **_< WE’RE SAFE FOR NOW, BROTHER.  >_**

The Beast nodded. **_< they’re still around. still alive.  >_** He looked down the hall. **_< hiding?  >_**

He stared hard at his surroundings. Then, he blinked.

He stared back at the Other.

 ** _< … ‘brother?’  >_** He echoed.

The Other looked back at him.

 ** _< YES?  >_** He asked.

There was a sudden pause. The two stared at each other, suddenly very still.

It would have been a far bigger shock to the Beast if it hadn’t felt so obvious in retrospect.

They were not a ‘pack.’ Of course they weren’t. They were _family_.

**_< … I FORGOT.  >_ **

The Other - his brother, looked disheartened at this news. The Beast stepped forward, a weight in his sternum.

 ** _< don’t think we did.  >_** He said, quietly. **_< not really.  >_**

They’d forgotten what a brother _was_ , of course. They’d forgotten each other. But in some way, they’d _known_.

 _Neither one_ could leave the other behind.

How _could_ they?

The Beast felt dizzy, and he sat down, trying to reach for the pieces of his mind, once more. And the clearer things became, the more he understood for certain that he hadn’t wanted this. He hadn’t wanted any of this.

**_< … i didn’t want you here.  >_ **

He felt his brother’s eyes on him. The Beast glanced over at him, eyesockets dim.  
****

**_< this is the place where i lose everything.  > _**He said, simply.

The Other approached him with a low whine, and he knew the _both_ of them were having trouble thinking. His brother was struggling with his mind as much as the Beast was, and it was a frustrating thing, not knowing all the answers. 

Not knowing how to fix anything.

The Beast shook his head, growling lowly.

He wanted more information. Whether it was this place, or perhaps themselves - nothing more could prompt them. Nothing more could clear the haze.

It was a mess. It was too much.

But maybe…

 

… maybe they didn’t need to know everything now.

 

Just pieces. Steps.

The Beast groaned, shutting his eyes in frustration.

He’d known that he’d lost so many things. Even other… people. Friends. He knew that much, at least. And he wasn’t sure if any of it would come back.

 ** _< … i don’t want to lose my brother, too.  >_** He said.

It was as simple as that.

The Other stared at him a moment.

**_< YOU HAVEN’T._ ** **_I’M STILL HERE, REMEMBER? >_ **

His tail fell into a wag.

 ** _< GOOD JOB.  >_** He chirped.

A low hum of electricity suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

The both of them turned to face the source, looking at the churning ball of light.

It was familiar. He remembered it.

And he remembered that it was terrifying.

It was a terrifying sight, in ways that the Beast could not explain. But he was drawn to it. It was important. It wasn’t right.

It wasn’t meant to look like that. Huge, and crackling and violent. That wasn’t right.

Something had to be done about it.

 ** _< that room.  >_** He said, suddenly.

The Other stood up tall. **_< THAT ROOM?  >_** He blinked. **_< ISN'T THAT... WHERE WE WOKE UP?  >_**

 ** _< yes. yeah.  >_** The Beast nodded, looking through the glass of the chamber. **_< we need to go there.  >_**

His brother seemed to bristle at this. He was staring hard at the chamber, his tail tucking slightly between his legs.

 ** _< THIS PLACE IS DANGEROUS.  > _**The Other said, softly. **_< I WANTED TO GET YOU AWAY FROM HERE. I WANTED…  >_**

The Beast looked over at him, as his brother shook himself out, his bones rattling with the force. A stern expression appeared on his long features.

 ** _< … WE CAN’T LEAVE.  >_** He said. **_< THERE WAS SOMETHING WE NEEDED TO DO.  >_**

The Beast looked over at him, nodding in approval.

Yes. They both had to find ways to focus. At least for now.

**_< any ideas?  >_ **

A loud scream of pain tore through the halls.

The both of them spun to look at the bright and crackling chamber. The sound had echoed from that direction - muffled, but familiar.

The Beast peered into the chamber - to the far right of the huge, crackling ball of energy.

And from this angle, he could see a room - jutting out into the chamber. It was small - a large window facing the chamber’s interior. The window was shattered.

And there was someone inside the room.

 

A figure of black.

 

The Beast’s spines grew rigid.

He had seen him before. He knew him.

He’d been there at the _start_ of all this. Before any of this.

The owner of the hands.

But instead of  the tall, dark imposing figure he’d seen when he’d woken up in that room, the monster looked… shaken.

His many black limbs had sagged to the floor. Some arms had grasped at the walls and windows, as if bracing himself. His skull was warped… it seemed to have been splitting in two. He was tensing and shivering, his entire form constricting.

Around him hovered the remaining floating skulls. They were still chattering - almost as if they were pestering him. His face turned into a scowl.

With a shaking, drooping arm (with a second arm growing out of the elbow) he waved a hand. The horde vanished in a flash of light, and he seemed to relax. The split in his skull seemed to be narrowing, and the arms began to steadily pull themselves in.

The Beast stepped back from the hall.

The dark monster had been stunned. He was collecting himself.

… They needed to move.

 ** _< … we have to stop him.  > _**He said, shoulders lowering. His brother followed his gaze.

 ** _< … YEAH.  >_** He frowned. **_< WHAT DO WE DO?  >_**

The Beast shook his head.

 ** _< take him away from here.  >_** He said, simply. ** _ < pick him up. take him away. he can’t stay in here. >_**

 ** _< HE’LL MAKE THINGS WORSE.  >_** Nodded his brother. **_< I REMEMBER.  >_**

The room was close. If they could get to him before he’d collected himself…

This monster was tricky, though. He could do terrible things - and the Beast remembered his speed.

 ** _< he might escape if he sees us.  > _**He said, thoughtfully.

Suddenly, his brother perked up, looking around the circular hall.

**_< NOT IF HE CAN’T GO ANYWHERE.  >_ **

The Beast glanced over at him. **_< what do you mean?  >_**  
****

**_< WE COULD SPLIT UP.  >_** He stamped his forepaws excitedly, gesturing around the outside of the chamber with his snout. **_< CUT HIM OFF FROM BOTH SIDES.  >_**

His eyes shone. **_< A TRAP! IT’LL BE A TRAP!  >_**  
****

_Split up…_

 

The Beast's spines rose.

Leave him _alone_ , without an _escape_ …

The Beast looked back at his younger brother, taking in a deep breath to wash away the encroaching panic.

… They could work together. They already had in the past - repeatedly. But those had just been small things, the Beast thought. Maybe they’d helped each other in larger ways than he’d thought. Or remembered. But…

This was… bigger. The larger things were dangerous. Messy. He had to _protect._

 

_He had to protect…_

 

**_< ...it’s a good idea.  >_ **

 

He drew in a shaky breath.

Maybe his brother would be hurt. But his brother had a good idea. It was a _good idea._ His brother had those a lot. He’d saved them from being swarmed by the skulls. He’d saved them from many things. His brother had _helped._

 

He had to _trust_ that.

 

**_< okay. let’s do it.  >_ **

He could not listen to his instincts. Not with this.

The Beast turned away from his brother, ready to start stalking in his own direction before the panic could reach him, again. But he suddenly felt a tug on the hood embedded on his collarbone.

 

**_< ONE MORE THING!  >_ **

 

The Beast glanced back, startled. His brother released his jaws from the blue material.

 ** _< IF EITHER OF US ARE IN TROUBLE, WE CALL FOR HELP!  >_** He said, firmly. **_< REMEMBER,  OKAY? NO DOING THIS ALONE.  >_**

The Beast blinked, slowly.

**_< … okay.  >_ **

The Other nodded firmly. **_< ALRIGHT. BE CAREFUL, BROTHER.  >_**

He glanced over at the circular passage. Then, taking in a deep breath, he darted silently to the right, beginning to circle around the large chamber to one side of the control room.

The Beast slowly turned to look at the churning ball of energy in the center of the large chamber. He slowly stepped out into the hall, stalking towards the reinforced glass.

He took in his faint, beastly reflection. He didn’t find it fitting… or right, or familiar at all - but that didn’t cause him alarm. It only seemed to cause resolve.

He saw his features crease, thoughtfully.

The Beast drew in a deep breath, himself. His eyesockets briefly flickered with white.

And he began to stalk to the opposing side of the control room, like he and his brother had planned.

 


	33. A Scheme

Alphys’ frantic typing echoed through the large cavern.

 

Frisk sat in the musty darkness, drumming their fingers against the floor. They’d wandered around the large room a few times to see if there was anything useful. But most of their surroundings were made up of deactivated machinery - nothing particularly interesting. 

The only things that stood out were the fragmented remains of the Blaster skulls.

Frisk decided they didn’t want to study those very hard.

They had finally sat down in front of the room’s massive, steel door. Alphys had said it would lead out to the main hallway of the CORE Underground, and that they would continue on when she was done adjusting the CORE’s power output.

Frisk had scooted themselves as far away from the bone shards as possible and pressed their ear against the thick steel of the door.

They listened for any sounds of lasers, or roars, or howls…

 

Or, they thought with a hint of melancholy, the start of a “ _ knock knock”  _ joke.

 

A quiet beep sounded, and Frisk pulled away from the cold door to see Memoryhead hovering next to them. The creature had remained silent. There wasn’t even a peep from the phone in Frisk’s pocket. 

They managed a smile up at the creature, anyway.

“How are you doing?”

Memoryhead chimed in response. The tone sounded positive, at least - but Frisk noted that the creature looked a tad more droopy - and transparent - than usual.

“…I can see  _ right through you. _ ” They said, raising an eyebrow in mock accusation.

With a start, Memoryhead suddenly glowed until it was fully visible. Frisk gave a more genuine smile, giggling.

The creature seemed to tilt to the side in response. A couple of mouths opened up on its features, one of them smiling back.

_ “O-okay! I’m all done, here!” _

Alphys’ voice echoed through the cavern to them, and they both spun to face the scientist as she approached. Her pace slowed slightly, as she met eyes with Memoryhead. The creature’s smile vanished off its features once more, and it hung there, blankfaced.

“D-did it say anything?” Alphys asked, as it shrank back from her.

Frisk shook their head. “Nope. I don’t think they wanna talk anymore.” They stood up, dusting their shorts. “They’re being pretty shy.”

Alphys looked up at the creature, frowning. “W-well, I guess I can relate.” She shook her head.  “L-Let’s keep going.”

The human turned and looked expectantly at the formless creature, who hummed affirmatively. Several tendrils peeled off its body, and typed delicately on a keypad on the left of the massive door.

A loud groan, and then a long screech of metal sounded as the heavy door slid upwards into the concrete ceiling. Alphys watched from afar as Memoryhead curled its tendrils back into its white mass.

“… it knows more about this place than I ever did.” The scientist said, as the trio moved into the hall.

Frisk looked upwards in awe. The hall was large and wide - probably the size of a three-storey building.

The place was cool and smelt of dust and mould. The faintest glow of teal mushrooms, growing out of the corners and crevices of the run-down concrete, lit up the dim space.

Large doors, identical to the one they’d just walked through, lined the sides of the hall. They were marked in yellow and black paint, with faded letters and numbers upon them.

“I-I guess all we have to figure out is which way to the CORE’s main control panel.” Alphys said, stepping forward. She looked around as they walked, clutching her claws nervously.

Frisk looked up, as the trio began to walk. “We got a long way to go.”

They all hurried at a brisk pace for a few moments, their puffing echoing through the darkness. Alphys was the faster runner, but Frisk could keep up somewhat, and they looked around the area as they jogged steadily behind her.

There was enough light from both the mushrooms and Memoryhead to show where they were going, but Frisk was beginning to wonder if there was an end to the hall to begin with.

“… Oh my God.”

Frisk gave a start at Alphys’ hushed voice. They stumbled to a stop next to the scientist. She was standing still, facing one of the many doors.

Except it wasn’t quite a functional door, anymore.

A huge gash had appeared in the steel. The metal had twisted strangely, warping outwards and leaving a huge opening to the inside of the room. The main gap was surrounded by smaller holes - neat and circular - peppered and overlapping both each other and the main gap itself.

They almost reminded Frisk of bullet holes.

“… what made  _ that? _ ” They asked, in a small voice.

“I-I don’t…”

There was a staticky sound, and Frisk’s attention returned to Memoryhead. It was drifting upwards, whatever tendrils it had hanging limply as it rose.

Frisk realized Alphys’ gaze was aimed higher - up to the ceiling that was steadily being illuminated by the white creature. They followed her gaze to see a similar gash there to the one on the door - almost completely identical.

“Another one…”

It was at this moment that Frisk realized that there were gashes all over the hall, beyond.

They were large - about four times the size of Frisk themself. They breached into some of the doors, and others into the walls. One was on the floor.

Alphys stood up straight, swallowing dryly. Even Memoryhead seemed to shiver, curling into itself tightly until it was a featureless disc. It descended back down to the duo.

“… The  _ rifts _ .” The scientist said, quietly.

The penny dropped.

Frisk suddenly grew pale, recalling how the cable on their elevator trip down to the True Lab had snapped.

“Th-they’re starting to  _ destroy _  things.” They whispered, quietly.

Memoryhead suddenly began to convulse and flicker on the spot.

An electronic screech began to fill the halls, and Frisk covered their ears as Memoryhead’s great maw opened up in an even louder scream of static. Its eyes opened up, wide and empty.

The creature suddenly warped, zig-zagged, distorted - and finally dissolved into nothingness.

Frisk reached out to them as they vanished.

“W-wait!”

A spacetime rift slashed through the air in front of them and they flinched back. The black rifts suddenly tore open around them in the hall. Some remained in midair - but some appeared within the gashes that they’d torn into the doors, walls and ceiling.

And they were growing larger.

“W-we’re running out of time.” Alphys grabbed Frisk by the hand. “Come on!”

The two darted down the hall, Frisk glancing about them in terror. The rifts seemed less concentrated this time around, but not any less aggressive.

“The CORE’s still acting up!” Frisk cried.

“I-I managed to depower the CORE’s instability for now,” Alphys said, breathlessly. “B-But I don’t know how much longer it’ll work! I thought the pressure on the CORE was caused by the power concentration, but i-it’s looking like th-there’s something else!”

Frisk looked back at Alphys, startled.

“Something else?”

The scientist slammed on the brakes, Frisk crashing into her back as concrete debris suddenly crashed down before them.

A quick glance above revealed a rift forming on the ceiling. Cracks of concrete branched out from the roaring black particles.

“If Gaster messing with the power output… a-and if the CORE’s conditions aren’t the  _ only _ thing messing with the CORE’s stability - then there’s gotta be  _ another _ factor!” Alphys said, her voice starting to sound choked in frustration. “I-I thought this would  _ last _ longer!”

Looking around them, Frisk suddenly caught sight of another large, ruptured door, different in pattern. The yellow cautionary lines had been replaced with red. Signs lined the doorway, though Frisk wasn’t quite certain what the symbols meant.

Whatever it was, it seemed the least affected by the rifts.

“ _ This _ way!”

Frisk darted forward towards the room, tugging Alphys after them. There was the sound of battering metal, and then a creaking groan. The scientist’s claw suddenly slipped free of their grasp.

“F-Frisk, wait - ”

Frisk looked up, wide-eyed, to see a large, battered pipe from the ceiling suddenly come crashing down on top of them. It was covered in the telltale holes of rift damage.

_ “FRISK!” _

The human’s first instinct was to dodge towards Alphys. But another yawning rift suddenly tore open between them, and they staggered back.

And just as panic began to set in, Frisk felt something heavy slam into their side.

The human child had become accustomed to being handled and tossed about like a football, these past few hours. But there was something very familiar about the way they’d been grabbed around the middle in mid-tackle and tucked underarm.

The floor rose up to meet them as their catcher suddenly dropped down, an arm protectively around the human. There was a loud crash and clatter as the machinery landed on the empty floor behind them. The rift was now a safe distance away, and Frisk dared not move until the roaring of the static began to fade away.

When the rifts finally vanished back into silence, Frisk felt their saviour release them. They sat up, blinking dazedly.

And the captain of the royal guard pushed herself up beside them. She leapt to her feet, running a hand over her head and down her ponytail with a breath of relief.

“Hey, nerds!” Undyne grinned. “Forget about me?!”

  
  


 

* * *

  
  


Several rooms away, Memoryhead reformed out of a roar of white static.

It warped, shuddering at the memory of the rifts that had formed around it. It helplessly jolted about, spasming and warping. Loud frantic beeps and whines echoes off the walls around it.

Finally, the creature managed to stabilise into a clear circle.

It flickered in the spot, several tendrils reaching out of the disclike mass and pressing into it, as if to hold a head that wasn’t there.

They sank back into it with the force, and several eyes opened up on its surface.

It cautiously looked around, flinching at the sight of another concrete wall. It had another gash in it - just like the ones in the hall. The creature buzzed, hovering away from the sight.

It took in its surroundings, more and more eyes opening up on its body.

It was in an almost cylindrical room. Large, cobwebbed cables hung from the very centre of the ceiling.

Several large, steel shelves lined one wall, layering upwards. Whatever they had once housed, they had been as large and heavy as boulders.

Some of the shelves had caved in. Water had leaked into this place, the rust corroding the once shining shelves.

The creature reached out to touch one of the large cables with a single tendril. The cluster slowly swayed with the gesture, creaking. The sound echoed through the room, and Memoryhead backed away.

The power they had fed through them was long gone.

The contents of the shelves had long since been taken.

There was nothing here, anymore. Nothing here that would help the human. Nothing that would help the scientist.

Nothing that would help Memoryhead.

… It was time to leave this place.

The creature tried to let itself fade away. To let go of what it saw and felt. To close its many eyes and drift back to the dark, dank depths of the Laboratory it had spent years inside. To not have to speak, to not have to listen.

  
  


_ “... We really need to save our friends.” _

  
  


Memoryhead trembled.

It did not need to listen. It did not need to be a part of this.

 

_ “… I know you’re scared… but if there’s anything else you can do to help us, we’d really appreciate it.”  _

 

The minutes passed by. Its many eyes remained wide open. Its form glowed brightly.

 

And in that room, Memoryhead stayed.

  
  


* * *

  
_ Her injuries stung. _

_ The sounds around her were muffled, and distorted. _

_ Something flat and almost jarringly cold pressed into her back. She was dazed, her skull pounding… _

 

_ … and dammit, whatever she was breathing was  _ **_really_ ** _ stinging her gills. _

 

_ Undyne’s eyes fluttered open, her ear fins twitching.  _

 

**_… I’m gonna turn that guy into tar._ **

 

_ She was underwater. She lay on cold steel, though the current was lifting her body slightly to and fro. The water was warming, though - and Undyne couldn’t register where from.  _

_ Her surroundings were blurred. All she could see was a huge, bright, violet mass hovering above the surface of the water. Her face contorted in confusion. _

_ Where the heck  _ **_was_ ** _ she? _

_ Grunting, she sat upwards, glancing down at her arms and legs. Some scratches. Shards of glass glittered on the steel beneath her, rolling back and forth with the current. The throbbing in the back of the captain’s head told her that she’d hit something pretty hard when she’d fallen - _

_ Undyne’s eye grew wide. _

_ She looked up at violet light of the massive CORE, hovering about ten feet above her. _

 

_ … oh. Wow. _

 

_ That’s right. Gaster had thrown her into the CORE chamber. _

_ She’d landed directly into the cooling. _

_ Undyne glanced at her surroundings. It was a steel, underwater pool. It was fairly spacious where she was, but the chamber funnelled into a small series of channels that led directly beneath the large ball of energy, itself. _

_ A glance to the left revealed an underwater vent, where the river that travelled across most of the Underground flowed into its final destination. _

_ Undyne winced. The flow of Waterfall’s cavern water was familiar on her scales, but something was mixed into the liquid. that made breathing a little uncomfortable. Probably some weird chemical from the power plant. _

_ Carefully glancing up for any sign of danger, she swam over to the edge of the pool and pulled herself out with a grunt. _

_ The crackling, buzzing noise and the searing heat of the CORE nearly made her drop back into the water. _

_ She looked up at the bright violet ball of energy. Lightning was starting to arc out of the ball, and she darted over to the wall of the spherical chamber, teeth gritted. Her legs felt loose and weak. _

_ She was going to be fried if she stayed in here for much longer. _

_ Her gaze landed on a large, steel wall panel framed with black and red cautionary stripes. _

_ She frowned when she saw a small number pad next to the frame. _

_ Of  _ **_course_ ** _ there was a passcode in this stupid place. Nevermind being locked in here and burning to death by accident, it was apparently the perfect time to type in someone’s birthday. _

_ With a growl, she summoned a spear to her side. _

_ A sudden crackle and roar sounded from behind her. _

_ Startled, she looked over her shoulder - spotting several energy tendrils from the CORE itself shooting out towards her - attracted to her summoned spear. _

_ Her eye went wide. _

 

_ No magic. _

 

_ Magic  _ **_bad_ ** _. _

 

_ She immediately dismissed the spear, and rushed out of the way of the tendrils. As if driven by momentum, the energy plunged into the steel, causing it to burn and crackle. _

_ Then, the tendrils dissipated. Cautiously, the captain looked back down at the broken and burnt panel. _

_ Alrighty. _

_ She wound up her elbow, and took a couple steps back, in preparation for a running charge. _

_ She’d just do this the old-fashioned way. _

  
  


* * *

  
  


Loud, raucous laughter echoed through the halls of the CORE Underground.

 

“… I feel like my ribs are being crushed, but this is also really nice?”

“U-Undyne… wh-while I really missed you, too… I-I’d appreciate it if you put us down soon.”

“No way. Uh-uh. We’re DOING this. You guys scare me like that again, and I’ll kick your butt!! I thought Gaster’d gotten to you guys first!!”

Undyne’s strength had seemed to come back in waves - by force of relief. She was currently hugging both Frisk and Alphys up in the air, tightly. Half her face had been taken up by her sharp-toothed grin.

“How’d you shake him  _ off?! _ ” She released them both at last, placing them both on the ground. “He had us cut off from you guys!”

Alphys’ eyes were shining. “W-we were really lucky!” She suddenly winced. “A-and unlucky, but we’re okay now! That’s what matters.”

She suddenly blinked, looking around.

“Uh… speaking of which… Frisk? Where’s Memoryhead?”

Undyne blinked in confusion, as the human looked around the hall. They seemed slightly worried.

“I… don’t know.” They said. “They disappeared. I think the rifts might have scared them off.”

Undyne frowned. “Who’s Memoryhead?”

Alphys turned back to her. “S-something that almost destroyed Frisk…”

“… but someone who wound up helping us get this far, too.” The human piped up. “It’s complicated.”

There was a pause.

“… So, not  _ that _ different from most of the folks you ran into in the Underground, Frisk.” Undyne muttered, raising an eyebrow. Then, she stood up straight.  “You sure you guys are okay, though? Nothing broken?”

“W-we’re fine!” Alphys looked up at her. “M-more importantly, how did  _ you _ get here?!”

Undyne blinked. “Oh yeah.”

She spun on the spot, looking at the battered gash in the door that she’d leapt through. It was a large steel door that stood out from the rest - framed with red marking and symbols, instead of the typical yellow and black that lined the rest of the doors in the massive hall.

“In here!” She gestured over, stepping through the gash and helping Alphys and Frisk through.

It was a cavernous room. Fairly damp, dark - still lit in emergency red. A series of shelves lined the left wall.

Sitting upon them was a large collection of large canisters (around the size of two Frisks). They were all made up of grey steel, with small glass windows to the liquids they held.

Some were neatly arranged, grouped into categories of colour - others had toppled over, or had been roughly bunched onto the floor below, different colours and liquids clashing with one another.

There was a distinctly chemical smell, and Frisk covered their mouth and nose.

“What is this place?” They asked, voice slightly muffled.

On the right side of the room,  _ huge _ , riveted steel pipes rose from the ground like columns. Massive valves and smaller pipes branched out of them into the ceiling - looking very much like a maze.

The sound of water roared through them.

“Th-that’s the main water supply for the CORE.” Alphys said, blinking. “... Wait.”

The last thing in the room was a large, black screen at its far end. Blue text lines stretched across it, lighting up the control panel beneath it.

Alphys darted forward towards the panel, and Undyne hurried after.

“Not too sure what this room does.” She said over her shoulder, to Frisk. “But I think we’re right underneath the CORE chamber.”

It had been a rough journey making it out of the CORE.

But once Undyne had broken out of the chamber, she’d gone nowhere else but down. The ventilation shaft had only just been large enough to let her crawl through - and the few places she got stuck, she simply ripped the ventilation open a little wider.

She glanced down at the battered ventilation panel that she’d kicked out of the way upon entering the room. It lay on the floor, next to the opening she’d used.

“W-we’re not far from the main CORE control panel at all!” Alphys said typing away, as the display on the monitor changed. A layout of a large structure appeared upon the screen, and Undyne could only guess that it was the CORE facility itself.

“You think we can figure out a quicker way to get back up there?” She asked, glancing back at the ventilation shaft.

“... Undyne?”

Her earfins rose. Frisk had approached, and their excitement had suddenly seemed to vanish.

“… Where’s Sans and Papyrus? They’re not in here with you?”

Undyne’s throat became dry.

She felt Alphys’ eyes on her, and felt her energy slowly seep away.

She sat down, her back against the base of the control panel. Her gaze had become hard, and focused on the concrete floor.

“I’m gonna be honest, Frisk. I got no clue where they are, right now.”

There was a pause. Frisk stepped forward.

“A-are they okay?” They asked.

“I dunno.” She said, lowly. “I  _ want _ ‘em to be.”

Undyne glanced down. “…It wasn’t exactly my best moment, up there.”

Alphys frowned. “… What  _ happened?” _

“We were fighting Gaster. Kinda.” The captain crossed her legs. “And we were actually doin’ okay, at first.”

She leaned back. “We managed to find Gaster at the control panel. The one up at the CORE chamber.” She pointed up to the ceiling. “Had no clue where you guys were - but we had the doc surrounded. I even had him caged at everything! Just…”

Undyne paused, blinking. The image of the doctor’s skull being pulled in every direction returned to memory, his many hands pulling his skull to pieces.

“I think I  _ really _ touched a nerve, or something. He acted pretty fast. Shoved me out the window, right into the chamber.”

There was a silence.

Alphys had gone very pale under her yellow scales. Her face seemed to be equal parts angered and terrified.

“… He…”

Her claws rose to her mouth.

“You could have been…”

Undyne rubbed her temples. “Yeah, don’t remind me.” Her hands dropped back to the ground, and she suddenly felt heavy. Dazed.

“… I don’t know how long I was out.” She continued. “I heard Pap screeching, when I fell.”

A crooked, bitter smile appeared on her features. “Heh… he probably would’ve charged into the chamber after me - but I didn’t see him anywhere, when I woke up.”

She paused. “… And he couldn’t have fallen into the CORE, either. I wouldn’t be talking about him right now if he did, yeah?”

There was a short silence.

Undyne breathed out, collecting herself. “The last time I saw them both… was with Gaster in the control room.”

Frisk approached her side.

“They should be okay, then, right? Gaster can’t control them.”

The captain shook her head. “Yeah… Best thing we’ve got going for us is that Gaster is looking worse by the hour. I hope his arms are fallin’ off.”

Alphys blinked slowly.

“Wait… Y-You mean… Gaster’s just deteriorating?”

“Well, he’s not gettin’ any better.” Undyne muttered, running her hand over her head. “I mean, he’s still dangerous. Just… he just seems to be getting more unstable.”

She shrugged. “So much for his plan to ‘exist,’ again. Whatever the hell’s happening to him, that’s a pretty crappy existence. Or not-existence.”

Undyne got to her feet, her daze evaporating. Her frustration had turned into focus, and she followed the tangent.

“I mean, I get he’s kinda breaking the rules of reality here, but… when I used my GREEN attack on him, his SOUL just looked…  _ sick _ .”

She suddenly noticed that Alphys was staring hard at her.

“What do you mean… sick?”

Undyne threw her arms up in the air, frustrated. “All  _ cracked! _ Like, none of the pieces were reconnecting! He collected all those things to ‘stabilise on this plane of existence,’ right? So why the heck aren’t they joining back together?!”

She stood up straight. “And why the heck didn’t he try to find the  _ last _ piece?”

There was a long silence.

“…Last piece?” Frisk asked.

“Yeah!” Undyne pointed to the center of her chest. “He’s got a little piece missing - right in the middle! If his plan was to get back in existence by collecting all his SOUL shards then why didn’t he - ”

“The arms.”

Undyne’s gaze darted to Alphys. Her gaze was held astray, staring at the large display monitor of the CORE’s status.

“… he’s talking to himself… he’s falling apart…” She mumbled, quietly. “The strain on the CORE...”

The captain stared hard at the scientist.

“What is it, Alphys?”

 

She looked back over at Undyne, wide-eyed.

 

“What if… none of the pieces are reconciling? What if his SOUL…  _ can’t _ join back together?”

 

There was a short silence. Frisk looked up at Alphys, confused.

“What do you mean…  _ can’t?” _

Alphys began fidgeting, her face twisted into a focused expression.

“It wasn’t just the power… it wasn’t just the CORE’s manual input… and he’s the only other factor… so…”

She suddenly spun back to the large, black screen, and rapidly began typing on the keys. Frisk squinted to look at the details on the screen - but gave a short gasp as Undyne suddenly lifted them onto her shoulders.

“Better view, shrimp?” She asked. A thumbs-up appeared in her peripheral vision.

“O-Okay.” Alphys suddenly leaned back, as a large image appeared on the large monitor. Undyne noted beads of sweat appearing on her features once more.

“… Th-this is the CORE.” The scientist said.

Upon the screenwas a large, pixellated circle. It reminded Undyne of a cutaway of the Earth and its layers. The ‘layers’ were many different colours, and were numbered with readings that the captain couldn’t quite make sense of.

But the numbers seemed to be travelling off the screen.

“It’s not supposed to be doing that, is it?” Undyne said, flatly.

“N-No.” Alphys said. “No, it isn’t. Everything’s outside of safe levels. B-but…”

She pointed directly into the center of the CORE diagram.

“Do you see that?”

Undyne squinted, leaning forward. Sure enough, dead in the center was a scarlike shape of violet.

“It, uh… looks like a glitch?” Undyne asked. “There’s like - pixellation and junk. It’s all miscoloured.”

Frisk blinked, staring hard at the diagram. “U-unless… that’s actually a sign of something…”

“Frisk’s right.” Alphys said, with a shaky sigh. “That isn’t a glitch.”

Her glasses grew bright as she faced the screen.

 

“I-it’s a huge rift.” She said. “In the center of the CORE.”

 

Undyne felt Frisk flinch.

“A-a rift tore open  _ inside _ the CORE?” They asked, shakily.

“Not… really.” Alphys said, pushing up her glasses. “This one… it’s d-different in nature to the rest of the rifts that we’ve seen. They were ripped open  _ because _ of the CORE itself. B-but…”

She clicked and dragged a prism around the Rift. Almost instantly, the computer attempted to analyse the data - but error messages began to pop up in windows on the screen. Red text scrolled up the logs.

“It’s meant to be the center of the CORE.” She said. “It’s the  _ core _ of… well, the CORE. S-see, it takes the geothermal energy - th-then pulls all the energy inward, and pushes it out as magical electricity!”

Undyne frowned, processing the information. “So… it’s  _ not _ like the rifts we’ve seen?”

“No - i-it functions differently!” Alphys said. “The rifts we’ve seen - they  _ repel _ things, right? W-we’ve seen things get damaged by their force! Nobody except  _ Sans _ could get inside.”

She pointed to the CORE center. “But this… this rift doesn’t seem to be repelling things. It’s  _ pulling things in _ .” She motioned inward, then pushed her arms back out. “L-like I said, it pulls the CORE element  _ inward _ to cool, then back outward as it warms up!”

She peered closer. “But… the center is meant to be quite  _ small _ . Circular. I-it looks like something ripped it open… a lot  _ more _ than it needed to be.”

There was a silence.

“Gaster.” Undyne said, wide-eyed.

Alphys stepped back from the monitor, claws dropping to her sides.

 

“… He escaped the Void… through  _ that _ rift.” She whispered.

 

Alphys backed away from the monitor, beginning to pace around.

“Wh-when I was shutting down the CORE… the cooling temperatures must have made the hole stable enough from the other side…!”

She looked down, coming to a stop.

“… the pressure on the system…” She said, sweat beading on her forehead. “I-It couldn’t be…”

Undyne knew that look. She was onto something.

“… I-If Gaster’s… still  _ missing _ a piece of his SOUL… then of  _ course _ he’d still need the CORE to stay in existence.” Alphys said. “He’d still need it a-as his anchor to keep him from returning to the Void, and…”

There was a flash of red on the screen, and the three of them looked up. The digitised rift in the centre of the diagram seemed to pixellate and spread.

Undyne realised with alarm that the rift in the CORE center had grown even bigger.

 

Stretching apart…

 

The captain stared, wide-eyed.

“…  _ he’s _ been making the center hole bigger and bigger.” She realized, pointing at the CORE Rift. “That  _ idiot’s _ tearing that hole in reality apart.”

Alphys nodded. “He’d been trying so hard to stay in existence... but he’s still partially connected to the Void, and it won’t let him go!”

“Because he’s missing the last SOUL piece.” Frisk said, the penny dropping.

“A-and it’s affecting the rest of the rifts.” Alphys said, softly. “It’s not  _ just _ the conditions he’s been putting the CORE under, manually… It’s the fact that he’s still connected to the Void! His presence is causing the CORE to destabilise…”

Undyne gritted her teeth. “He doesn’t even care, does he?! If he can’t win, we’re going down with him? Is that it?!”

“How do we stop him?” Frisk asked. “I-If we found the last piece of his SOUL and brought it to, would he be disconnected from the Void?”

“I-I’m not sure.” Alphys said. “In theory - yes, b-but I don’t know how we’d be able to find it to begin with, with the time we have!”

Undyne snarled. “So we’re stuck? All  _ I  _ know is that if we can’t find that piece, then he can’t exist long enough for me to make injuries that last!!” She kicked an empty steel canister nearby. “So what do we do?! Just throw him on back where he came from!!?”

 

There was a long pause.

 

Frisk looked down at Undyne. 

 

Undyne looked at Alphys.

 

Alphys looked at the monitor.

 

“That… that might actually work.” She said, thoughtfully. 

Undyne perked up. “Wait, seriously?”

“If he… if he fell back into the Void, there’d be no more strain, right?” Frisk asked, quietly.

Alphys bit her lip. “I-It’s the only thing I can think of that might give us a chance…”

Undyne felt Frisk’s fingers drum on the top of her head in thought.

“There’s no way he’d  _ want _ to go back.” They said, cautiously. “And he’s slipped through us so many times, already… how’re we gonna do it?”

Undyne frowned. She hated to admit it, but one thing the doctor was good at was either being tricky or preying on someone else’s weakness. He wouldn’t simply let himself be easily thrown into the CORE like that - besides, even if he was, he had backup in the form of a zillion hands.

She crossed her arms, padding back and forth along the room in thought (Frisk leaned further over her head to stabilise themself). Her magic was good, but she was just one monster. And Gaster was breaking the laws of physics and reality. How the heck could she to level the playing field?

 

…Dammit, it was warm in this room. The CORE above was heating up.

 

Undyne itched the scales on her arm. She didn’t feel any better about the fact that the only water that she’d been in recently had chemicals in it. Nothing harmful, but she couldn’t help but feel nervous about the labels on the canisters that lined the room.

… Come to think of it…

“What the heck’s kerosene doing down here, anyway?” She muttered. “And liquid oxygen? And… Dog Residue?”

Frisk looked down at her.

“You can read chemical symbols?”

Undyne shrugged, her eyes following the shelves.

“Working out my brain’s another part of my regimen.” She said, simply. Then, she looked over her shoulder at Alphys.

“You think there’s anything we could use here?”

The scientist padded up next to her. “… Th-there  _ are _ a lot of combinations, here.” She said. “Some are chemical solutions, but… ”

She looked over her shoulder. “… what else is there?”

Undyne saw Frisk’s arm out of the upper corner of her eye, pointing to the far corner of the room.

“What about those? They’re labelled differently.”

Undyne glanced over. Bunched over in the corner were a series of taller canisters, differently designed to the rest.

Instead of being industrial grey like the rest in the room, they were even larger and made of heavily enforced glass with metal ends. Marked on these were symbols. Undyne could recognise a few of them. Greek alphabet. Alpha, Beta, Yadda Yadda…

But what caught her eye was the canister in the center. It was about the height of Alphys herself, and filled with glowing blue liquid.

The sign ‘Sigma’ was messily scribbled upon the label.

Undyne slowly reached up and lifted Frisk off her shoulders, lowering them to the ground. Her gaze did not break from the canister.

She’d seen it, before. In archived footage.

Undyne drew in a deep breath.

“... Think I can carry it pretty easily.” She decided, crossing her arms.

They heard the CORE above rumble, the ground vibrating with it.

“… We’d need for Gaster to leave the Control Panel.” Alphys said. Her voice was quivering, but she’d caught on to what the captain was planning. “There’s no way he’d leave it unguarded, right?”

There was a silence.

“… What about me?”

Undyne’s gaze darted over to Frisk. The human was frowning, crossing their arms.

“Would he leave the panel to go after me?” They asked.

“What do you mean?”

Frisk glanced up at her.

“Gaster really wanted me dead, right?” They said, simply.

Undyne wasn’t sure if she liked their phrasing. But at that, Alphys jerked.

“F-Frisk… you don’t mean…”

“Maybe I could draw him away from the control room.” Frisk offered, blinking. “If he goes after me, maybe you could access the control panel - ”

“But you won’t be fast enough to escape him.” Undyne said, frowning. “He caught you in seconds. We sorta had to keep throwin’ you around like a football to keep him away from you.”

Frisk’s shoulders slumped a little.

“I’m good at dodging.” They protested.

“That isn’t gonna be enough.” Undyne sighed, looking back down at the canister. “I could try givin’ ya a shield, but all Gaster’d have to do would be to go after me. And I’d be carrying another payload.”

Frisk’s hand rose to their chin, and they looked down in thought.

“Yeah. But I don’t know how else Gaster would stop paying attention to you guys.”

They frowned. “I wish I was fast enough.”

“…Frisk.”

When the two turned to Alphys, her glasses were caught in the light.

“… that’s it.” She whispered.

Frisk blinked. “Huh?”

“… I-I think… I know how to get some help!”

The two spun to face the scientist.

“Really?!”

“Yeah!” Alphys said, brightly. “Your phone!”

There was a pause.

“Uh… Alphys…” Undyne tried to break it to her, gently. “There’s no way we can contact anybody, remember? No reception, with the CORE all crazy and stuff.”

“What?” Alphys blinked. “N-no, that’s not what I…”

She took a breath to settle herself down, looking around at the canisters.

“… We have your phone, Frisk.” She whispered.

The human blinked. “Uh-huh?”

“… a-and kerosene… w-with liquid oxygen…”

Undyne made a face. “Guess so?”

There was a silence.

Then, Alphys held out her claw towards Frisk’s phone.

“I know how to make you faster.” She said. “J-just give me a couple of minutes!”

  
  


* * *

 

 

The steel of the control panel burned into Gaster’s back.

 

He sat on the tiled floor, covered in glass shards. He sat limply beneath the observation window of the CORE chamber, his legs tangled, his skull bowed forward in exhaustion, his hands in his lap.

The many arms that reached out from his back were draped all over the control room floor, limp and snaking outwards from his position like wires.

The heat of the CORE roared through the shattered window. The light beamed brighter onto the back of his shining, splitting skull.

His body spasmed. He felt himself being pulled - left, right, backwards, a little upwards - and he gritted his teeth as the pulling suddenly ceased - the widening crack on his skull mended back to its hairline fracture.

Gaster was exhausted.

He’d dismissed the chattering Blasters back into his inventory. He didn’t have the strength to handle them at the moment, nor corral them - they were yet more voices in his cluttered mind, voices he did not need.

But he needed them close.

The latest CORE surge had rendered him limp and exhausted. His form wasn’t…  _ melting _ , exactly, but it was much heavier than he remembered it being. His limbs wouldn’t move, his hands like lead.

It had taken all of Gaster’s strength to keep himself together.

He felt his mouth twitch, and he gritted his teeth in frustration.

 

_ TIME IS SHORT.  _ He heard his own voice whisper, without his consent.  _ THE CORE WILL RIP YOU APART, BEFORE LONG - AND THIS SPACE WITH IT. _

 

Gaster closed his eyes.

**_TIME WILL HAVE NO BEARING._ ** He said, shakily. **_IT_** **_DOESN’T MATTER._ **

Frisk’s face was vivid in his mind. Grasped by their head, the rest of their body hanging helplessly as Gaster had held them before him.

He remembered the defiance underneath all that fear.

**_THE CHILD’S DETERMINATION IS UNPARALLELED._ ** Gaster said, firmly.  **_THEY WILL HAVE TO GO BACK, AFTER THEY ARE DESTROYED._ **

 

**AND YOU WILL PLAN MORE WISELY, WITH YOUR KNOWLEDGE.** Hummed his own voice, thoughtfully.

 

_ THE CHILD WILL, AS WELL.  _ Warned another voice.  _ IN THIS… ‘FAVOURED’ TIME OF YOURS, THEY MAY TURN THE TIDE. _

 

Gaster shook his head. **_IF I RECALL CORRECTLY… SANS WILL STILL BE IN MY CLUTCHES, IN THAT TIME._ **

His head lowered.  **_I’LL NOT BE SO FOOLISH AS TO UTILIZE HIM SO SOON. PAPYRUS WOULD ALSO BE INFECTED. HE’LL BE PRONE TO INFLUENCE, IN MY FAVOUR._ **

Gaster’s eye sockets narrowed.

**_THIS IS NOT THE END._ **

He felt the CORE’s heat, once more. The pain was intense, but he dismissed it as one would an aching back.

 

THE CORE WILL TEAR YOU APART, BEFORE LONG. His voice whispered. YOUR SOUL WITH BE PULLED APART, ONCE MORE.

_ HOW CAN YOU KNOW IF YOU’LL BE PRONE TO THE RULES OF TIME, YOURSELF? _

**HOW CAN YOU KNOW WHERE YOU’LL START? WHERE YOU’LL END?**

 

Gaster gritted his teeth shut.

**_… I’LL BE RID OF YOU, AT LEAST._ ** He said, sharply.

There was a silence. Gaster felt himself relax, out of both relief and triumph. But he felt his mouth move, once more - uncharacteristically carefully.

 

_ KEEP CHARGING FORWARD, LITTLE SHARD. _ Said his voice, resigned and bitter. _ AS YOU ALWAYS FOOLISHLY HAVE. _

 

The other voices soon became white noise in the back of his mind. 

With a grunt, Gaster slowly pulled himself back up on his legs. They were weak and heavy - but he could walk. His exhausted arms remained weighted to the floor - some twitching in response to their host’s movement.

Gaster shook his head.

He was exhausted - but he needed to stay vigilant.

He would get his resolution, sooner or later. He would push onward.

He just needed to collect himself for a few moments longer…

A movement caught the corner of his eye socket. Blinking, his gaze darted to the rightmost window of the CORE control room - the one that faced the hallway, outside.   

The reflection of the bright CORE blinded him from seeing anything beyond it, but he could have sworn he’d seen something. He stared hard at the doorframe.

And a pair of orange-lit eyes stared back at him from the darkness.

The flickering light of the CORE lit up the Blaster’s longer features. Gaster could no longer imagine the kindly-featured skeleton beneath that bestial, fanged exterior. The creature was still, standing at the right of the doorframe. His size cut off any access to the rightmost hall.

Papyrus was here. And the doctor couldn’t afford to summon any Blaster skulls of his own.

Gaster’s eyes narrowed.

He couldn’t afford to panic.

With little hesitation, he tried to hurl himself towards the left of the doorframe -

\- and a pair of blue-lit sockets glared back at him from the darkness of the opposing hall.

He scrambled backwards, Sans’ Blaster features approaching him from the shadows. He spun on the spot, his many arms dragging heavily on the tiles, and tried lunging back into the CORE control room.

**_< NO.  >_ **

Gaster’s dive towards the hole in the floor that Undyne had created proved fruitless - Papyrus had darted inside the room during Gaster’s distraction, and his large claws were now barring the way.

His snout was waiting level with Gaster’s face, and the doctor flinched back.

**_< BAD.  >_ ** The creature reprimanded.  **_< STAY, PLEASE.  >_ **

Gaster spun around once more, his legs turning weak as he realised Sans was now barring the exit to the control room. He staggered back to the leftmost wall, collapsing against a science bench.

The doctor’s gaze flicked quickly, back and forth between them.

**_WELL, THEN._ ** He breathed.

He slowly pushed himself up, sitting upright with his back up against the science bench. Both of the Blasters… the stubborn creatures that they were, had stopped moving. But they remained steadfastly on guard.

**_I SUPPOSE YOU HAVE ME TRAPPED._ ** The doctor said, quietly.

His gaze moved to Sans. The Blaster had taken a step towards him.

Gaster’s arms shot forward. Several slumped to the ground in fatigue, before they could even reach more that a foot - and what few made it any further were either pinned under Sans’ great claw, or pounced on by one of Papyrus’ free paws as he still stood vigilant over his escape route.

**_NOW THEN._ ** The doctor said, pressing his back against the science bench in an attempt to back away from them both, in spite of the hold they had on him.  **_CALM YOURSELVES_ **

He gave the CORE chamber to his right a quick glance, as Sans slowly began to step forward.

**_NO BLASTING IN HERE, REMEMBER?_ **

Sans’ eye sockets narrowed. Papyrus looked over at him.

Gaster watched as the older Blaster seemed to process this. Mercifully, he came to a stop.

**_< … too dangerous.  >_ ** The beast agreed. His gaze remained fixed on Gaster, and the doctor could register a certainty that hadn’t been there before.

It was in Papyrus, too. But while the taller beast seemed to be strictly focused on keeping the doctor’s extended arms underfoot (Sans had even brushed his share over to his brother’s claws), Sans seemed entirely fixed on Gaster himself.

Perhaps that was better than blind terror, the doctor thought. Barely better. The creature before him wasn’t quite Sans. But his intelligence was apparent.

**_… DO YOU INTEND TO DESTROY ME?_ ** Gaster asked.

 

The Blaster stared at him for a moment. Stared at him long and hard.

 

**_< can’t.  >_ ** he replied, simply.

 

There was a brief silence. Gaster felt the heat and roar of the CORE beside him. The colours had alternated from violet to a light magenta, steadily becoming warmer and warmer…

The Blaster glanced up and over at it, blinking slowly. Then, his gaze returned to the doctor.

**_< i’m… taking you out of here.  > _ ** He said, carefully.

Gaster’s limbs were still limp at his sides. He leaned forward the slightest bit, face blank.

**_WHY IS THAT?_ **

**_< too dangerous.  >_ ** The Blaster said.

**_ODDLY CONSIDERATE OF YOU._ ** The Doctor replied.

The beast didn’t seem notice his tone.

**_< too dangerous to leave you here.  > _ ** He said, matter-of-factly.

Gaster’s features didn’t change. The Blaster now seemed to be looking away from him. He was focused on the CORE.

Like the doctor wasn’t quite there.

The corner of Gaster’s mouth twitched, as Sans continued to stare at the CORE.

**_< you’re doing this.  >_ ** He growled.  **_< you’re breaking everything. breaking the air.  >_ **

The creature comprehended the danger, it seemed. Gaster’s attempts to aggravate the mutagen against his subjects had only been a temporary success.

Sans would awaken, sooner or later.

**_YOU CANNOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO, I’M AFRAID._ ** Gaster said, quietly.  **_SOMEONE LIKE YOU - A BEAST LIKE YOU HAS NO AUTHORITY ON THE MATTER._ **

And suddenly, Sans’ gaze was firmly on him. The doctor shivered, despite the crooked smile on his features. The creature’s gaze was still blue-lit… but sharp. A quiet fury glowed from his dark eye sockets.

 

**_< wrong.  >_ **

 

He gave a low snarl, his spines raising. Papyrus seemed to note this, looking at him with renewed alertness. 

Gaster chuckled, nervously.

**_< wrong. not meant to be this. i’m not…  >_ **

His eye sockets flickered.

**_< … i’m not _ ** **_just_ ** **_this. >_ **

The doctor raised his brows, tilting his head inquiringly.

**_OH?_ **

Sans growled lowly in response. His eye sockets were becoming dark.

**_< you did this to me.  >_ ** The beast said.  **_< to my brother. tried to make us… nothing. tried to make us what we’re not.  >_ **

He shook his head. Papyrus’ stare was on Gaster, now.

**_< i’m… more than this.  > _ ** Sans growled.  **_< i know i am.  >_ **

There was a silence. All around them, the light of the CORE seemed to dim, mercifully.

Gaster smiled at the creature, gently.

**_YOU KNOW…_ **

The violet hue returned once again - seeping into everything.

 

**_… I ALWAYS KNEW IT WAS A MISTAKE TO LET YOU INTO MY CREW._ **

 

The Beast blinked, blue light returning to his eye sockets. Gaster sat up, taking a deep breath. His arms - the ‘normal’ ones, connected to his shoulders - crossed as he leaned back against the bench.

**_YOU SHOWED PROMISE. INGENUITY. BUT IN THE END, YOU TRULY WERE ONLY A CHILD. UNABLE TO DO WHAT YOU WERE TOLD. ACTING ON YOUR OWN WHIMS._ **

Gaster’s eye sockets closed.

 

**_AT THE COST OF EVERYONE ELSE._ **

 

There was a shift of claw against tile. The doctor re-opened his eyes, realizing that despite the ferocity still present in the Blaster’s blue-lit eyes…

 

… Sans had taken a step back.

 

**_YOU WERE ALWAYS A RISK, SANS. ONE I WAS WILLING TO TAKE. BUT IN THE END, YOU LET ME DOWN._ **

The violet light that lit the room suddenly grew more intense - reddening to purple. Gaster’s smile cracked across his face at the Blaster, who remained fixed in place.

**_DO YOU_ ** **_TRULY_ ** **_THINK ALL THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU HAD NOT CHOSEN TO DISOBEY ME, ALL THOSE YEARS AGO?_ **

He saw Papyrus step forward. A flicker of white appeared in the beast’s eye sockets.

**_< YOU ARE NOT BEING HELPFUL.  > _ **  He said, a warning growl rising in his throat. **_ < YOU SHOULD TRY THAT, INSTEAD. >_ **

Gaster’s eye sockets closed, once more.

**_I AM SIMPLY INFORMING YOU OF THE BIGGEST THREAT HERE._ ** He said, his gaze drifting back to Sans. **_COMPARED TO SOMEONE WHO WOULD HAPPILY SIT BACK, AND LET THE WORLD GO BY…_ **

One eye opened.

 

**_… AND SIMPLY LET HIS SUPPOSED LOVED ONES DIE, OVER AND OVER._ **

 

The next few seconds had been carefully planned.

When the shock appeared in Sans’ features, Gaster ripped several of his arms out from underneath Papyrus’ loosened claws, with restored energy.

He slammed several on the beast’s forehead. There was great resistance, but it was more than enough to disorient the taller Blaster. In the same gesture, Gaster flicked his wrist in a firm summoning motion.

His remaining Blaster skulls - the five of them, charged forward at the beast, slamming Papyrus off his feet and into the opposite side of the room. There was barely more than a startled, husky gasp.

Sans reacted immediately. He charged directly at Gaster.

With one of his folded arms, the doctor gestured to the right.

A wall of force threw Sans off his feet.

There was a sickening, crunching  **_snap_ ** as Sans was thrown out of the Control Room, against the steel wall of the outside hall. The Blaster platoon had changed targets at Gaster’s command, slamming against Sans,  instead.

There was something that sounded like a raspy yowl, ending in a choked gasp. The smaller Blaster slumped to the floor on his side, breathing shakily.

The doctor gave Papyrus a quick glance, the beast lying on his side, chips of bone falling off the side of his ribcage and scapula from the sudden attack.

His eyesockets blinked a hazy orange. He was not moving. Satisfied, Gaster turned to Sans.

He slowly approached him. The beast looked up at him in blank shock.

**_DON’T THINK I HAVEN’T BEEN WATCHING._ ** Gaster sneered, the arms on his back springing to life.  **_DON’T THINK I HAVEN’T SEEN WHAT YOU’VE DONE._ **

He’d stared at the downed beast for a moment, before taking one hand and gesturing across in a sort of finality. The five Blaster vanished into white particles, and Sans began to try rolling onto his belly, in an attempt to stand.

Gaster was on the Blaster in seconds.

His hands slammed down on the creature’s skull, upper limbs and ribcage. The creature stilled, paralysed under his stare.

Gaster did not touch his forehead.

**_YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE WHO_ ** **_KNEW_ ** **_, WEREN’T YOU? WITH THE CORE ELEMENT… AND WITHOUT ME AROUND… YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE WHO WAS AWARE OF TIME BEING_ ** **_MESSED_ ** **_WITH - AND YOU HARDLY INTERVENED._ **

Gaster leaned in, his stare intense.

**_NOT LIKE ME. UNLIKE YOU, I GAVE A DAMN. I ASSISTED OTHERS IN AVERTING A PAINFUL FATE - AND YOU STOOD BY AND GAVE IN! YOU EVENTUALLY DID NOTHING!! LIKE THE LAZY COWARD YOU ARE. WATCHING… FEELING THINGS REPEAT, OVER AND OVER._ **

The eye socket that gazed up at him was lit up by a single white light.

It had shrank into a pinprick.

The doctor shook his head, a pitying smile on his features. His eyesockets glowed a deep violet.

 

**_TO THINK… I ONCE BELIEVED YOU WERE WORTH SAVING FROM SUCH A FATE._ **

 

Sans did not move to swipe him away. Gaster knew that the beast had the strength and ability to. 

But there was something more than blind, feral fear that drove him, now.

**_YOU SEEM TO CARE FOR THAT CHILD, AT LEAST._ ** He continued, offhandedly. **_OR IS IT AN ACT OF APPEASEMENT? TO ENSURE THEY WON’T WANT TO USE THEIR ABILITY?_ **

A low growl emanated from Sans. Gaster chuckled.

**_YOU HAD NO TROUBLE KILLING THEM THE FIRST TIME._ **

He withdrew from the Blaster a moment, turning away from him to take in his surroundings a moment. He heard no scuff against the floor, no indication that Sans had tried to stand.

**_I UNDERSTAND YOUR MOTIVATIONS. REMEMBER WHEN THE UNDERGROUND WAS ATTACKED, ALL THOSE YEARS AGO? IN LOCKDOWN? THE HIDING, THE EVACUATIONS…_ **

His head turned back to Sans, his eye sockets black.

 

**_THE HUMAN’S_ ** **_INCESSANT_ ** **_RESETTING OF TIME?_ **

 

He stood up, his ‘regular’ arms clasped behind his back. He drew in a deep breath, turning to look out over into the CORE chamber.

It had gone a bright yellow. He smirked at it, spotting Sans’ ghastly reflection in the glass of the control room.

…  **_IT TOOK THEM A WHILE._ ** Gaster continued.  **_IT TOOK THEM A WHILE TO GIVE UP. THEY WANTED JUSTICE FOR SOMEONE WHO HAD FALLEN._ **

He closed his eyes, vividly remembering the pistol aimed directly at him. Held in shaken hands.

**_BUT IT WAS SIMPLE. I_ ** **_KILLED_ ** **_THEM. OVER. AND OVER. AND OVER._ **

Gaster remembered the pistol clattering to the charred, blackened ground of Waterfall. He remembered the newly-mended Gasterblaster hovering obediently at his side, smoke rising from its jagged maw.

Gaster reopened his eyes, turning to face Sans, once more.

**_TWELVE YEARS LATER, YOU DID THE SAME, DIDN’T YOU?_ **

He stepped forward. The great Blaster gave a weak growl, a glimmer of defiance in his weakness. Gaster put on a broad smile as he stepped closer.

**_THE UNDERGROUND WAS UNDER ATTACK. EVERYONE WAS DUST._ **

Sans stopped growling. Gaster shook with quiet laughter, looking down at the scorched tiles beneath him.

**_YOU WAITED UNTIL EVERYONE WAS DUST._ ** **_THAT_ ** **_WAS YOUR ULTIMATUM._ **

Gaster’s gaze darted back up at the Blaster.

**_AND YOU FINALLY ACTED… WITH MY VERY WEAPONRY._ ** **_MY_ ** **_WEAPONRY. YOU KILLED THE CHILD, OVER AND OVER AND OVER - AND YOU_ ** **_RELISHED_ ** **_IN IT, DIDN’T YOU?_ **

He suddenly slammed one foot forward, inches from Sans’ muzzle. The arms on his back twitched to life.

**_YOU HAD_ ** **_CONTROL_ ** **_!!_ ** He crowed.  **_FOR ONCE IN YOUR MISERABLE LIFE, YOU HAD_ ** **_CONTROL_ ** **_!!_ **

Several hands slammed on the beast’s skull, once more - forcing Sans to look directly up at him. Again, he avoided the forehead.

**_YOU WASTED AWAY. YOU LET OTHERS DIE -_ ** **_YOU_ ** **_, THE ONLY PERSON WITH SOME SEMBLANCE OF IDEA OF SOME FORCE WARPING YOUR WEEKS AND DAYS!_ **

Gaster’s grin spread across his features like a fracture.

**_NO. YOU NEVER ACTED FOR MONSTERKIND. YOU’VE SCARCELY ACTED IN THE INTEREST OF OTHERS - RIGHT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!_ **

Blue began to flicker in Sans’ eye socket.

**_YOU NEVER ACTED TO ‘SAVE’ OTHERS._ ** The doctor snarled.  **_IN THE OLD DAYS, YOU ONLY EVER ACTED ON YOUR_ ** **_SELFISH_ ** **_CURIOSITY. AND IN DUE TIME, YOU’VE ONLY ACTED TO HOLD ON TO WHAT LITTLE CONTROL YOU HAD_ ** **_LEFT_ ** **_!!!_ **

He slammed two hands down on the ground, hearing Sans begin to draw in one shaken breath after the next.

**_A SLACKER. A LIAR. A THIEF. A_ ** **_MURDERER_ ** **_!_ **

Gaster shook his head.

**_OH, SANS…_ **

His grin became a soft smile.

**_… WHAT WOULD THEY SAY IF THEY SAW YOU, NOW? WHAT WOULD THEY THINK?_ **

The blue in the Blaster’s eye socket began to flicker more wildly. His entire form began to shake.

And Gaster’s gaze remained fixed on the last remaining bit of white light in his eye socket, daring for it to return.

Daring Sans to ever want to wake up, again.

**_THIS FORM BECOMES YOU. YOU ARE NO MONSTER._ **

Gaster grinned, once more.

**_YOU WERE NEVER ANYTHING MORE THAN A BEAST!!_ **

Blue fire flooded the creature’s fearful sockets, the white light vanishing under his panic.

The Blaster did not try to push against him - and nor did he move to attack. Instead, he threw back his head and let out a high pitched yowl.

Gaster felt the sound vibrate through the creature’s skull, and an airy chuckle bubbled out of him as he realized its intent. Sans yowled again, and the doctor shook with laughter.

 ** _CALLING FOR_** ** _HELP?_** He grinned. **_ARE YOU TRULY THAT -_**

Jaws closed around him.

The doctor was suddenly yanked away from Sans, and any sense Gaster could make of the scene turned into a sudden blur as he was shaken vigorously from side to side to all angles. The searing heat of flames crackled around him, restrained but fierce and orange.

Gaster was finally tossed away, and hit the wall with a loud CLANG.

And he slumped to the floor, in a stunned heap.

  
  
  



	34. A Race

The Tallest of the Blasters felt dizzy.

 

His ferocity dissolved off of him, sated. He panted heavily, shaking. He had no lungs, but he felt out of breath as he stared at the black muck on the steel wall.

The Many-Handed monster was unconscious before him, slumped with his back against the wall. He would have almost looked like some kind of painting, if his slouched skull had been flattened against the steel, as well.

Deep, puncturing teeth-marks were embedded in his torso, slowly filling in with more black ooze as seconds passed by. The Tallest clicked his jaw, the orange flames dissolving between his teeth.

Then, he shook his slender snout, giving a cough.

 

That had tasted _awful_.

 

The Tallest slowly took a step back from the Many-Handed. That was enough. The Many-Handed would not move, now. This strange creature couldn’t be killed, after all. He’d simply needed him… away.

He’d needed him to stop.

A piercing yowl returned to memory, and he suddenly spun away from the creature. The Tallest gazed at the _other_ being lying against the hall wall, a little ways away.

His eye sockets grew wide as he saw his brother, the great bony Beast slumped against the steel.

The Beast’s back legs lay limp and still. He’d attempted to push himself up on his front legs, but they were still crouched beneath him, and trembling. His head hung low.

His spines were rigid, his eyesockets black. They were staring hard at the tiled floor. He was trembling furiously, his tail curled around him. 

He did not move. He did not speak.

**_< BROTHER!  >_ **

The Tallest hurried towards him with a cry.

**_< BROTHER, ARE YOU -  >_ **

The Beast’s empty eye sockets flared up with blue.

His head spun to face him, a warning snarl on his features. His spines grew rigid, his tail curling around him tighter as he shrunk into himself.

The Tallest stopped up, taking a few steps back. He held his head and tail low, his eyes still wide with worry. 

His brother did not want to be approached. 

 ** _< YOU’RE HURT.  > _**He said, quietly. **_< YOU NEED HELP.  >_**

The Tallest suddenly blinked.  
****

**_< …YOU CALLED FOR HELP.  > _**He realised, in quiet wonder.

The Beast trembled harder, eye sockets still blazing blue. He didn’t seem to be looking _at_ the Tallest at all… simply staring straight _through_ him.

The Tallest felt a chill, and he wasn’t sure what it came from. It wasn’t even cold. But somehow, this all seemed very familiar.

The last time his brother had wanted help, he’d acted a lot like this, too.

**_< i…  > _ **

The Tallest perked up at the sound of the Beast’s trill. He’d shaken his head, struggling to speak. His bones were starting to rattle defensively.

 ** _< … is he gone…?  > _**The Beast asked.

Immediately, the Tallest turned to look over his shoulder, seeing the Many-Handed lying still against the wall. He hadn’t budged.

 ** _< NO.  > _**He said. **_< HE’S RIGHT OVER THERE. BUT HE’S OUT.  > _**

He turned back to the Beast, who had begun to tremble harder.

 ** _< … I AM NOT LETTING HIM GET TO YOU, NOW.  > _**He said, firmly. 

The Beast shakily rose his head. His gaze was still distant, but the Tallest took that as an invitation to step a little closer.

 ** _< … he said…  >_** The Beast focused hard. He blinked rapidly, shaking his head once more. ** _ < h-he said… >_**

The Tallest stared hard at him, muffled words swimming around in his memory. Words spoken as he’d lain on the floor, stunned from the doctor’s attack. 

 ** _< … HE SAID A LOT.  > _**The Tallest replied. **_< OF HORRIBLE THINGS. TO YOU.  >_**

A lot of things _about_ the Beast, really. Things that the Tallest didn’t quite understand, no matter how deeply he thought on them for now. Things that seemed impossible, and strange.

But the _shame_.

The Tallest stared at the Beast.

The shame and terror on his brother’s face, even _now_.

 ** _< … you heard it.  > _**The Beast said, still looking through him.

 ** _< YES.  >_** The Tallest said, suddenly a little nervous. **_< ALL OF IT. I’M A GOOD LISTENER.  >_**

The shaken Beast finally seemed to be looking _at_ him, blinking slowly. He looked dazed, and tired. 

He was looking at the Tallest, doing his best to focus. 

He was trying. He was trying so hard. The Tallest wondered why he hadn’t really noticed it, before.

**_< ARE YOU ALRIGHT, BROTHER?  >_ **

The Beast trilled, looking down, once more.

 ** _< … everything he said.  > _**He growled. **_< it’s… _**_true._ ** _>_**

His voice shifted into something sad, tired and familiar. As soon as the Tallest tried to focus on it, it slipped away once more.

 ** _< i think it’s_** **_true. >  _**The Beast whispered.

The Tallest tucked his tail between his legs. The dazed look was returning to his brother’s features, and he stepped forward again.

 ** _< YOU… THINK IT’S TRUE?  >_** His eyesockets narrowed and he huffed. **_< JUST BECAUSE _****_HE_** ** _TOLD YOU? >_**

The Beast’s focus returned, and he looked back up at him. The Tallest’s face fell.

 ** _< because i _****_know_** ** _. >_** His brother said, and he almost looked frustrated. **_< i… hurt. i keep hurting - hurt you, hurt others.  >_**

The Tallest crooned, glancing over his shoulder briefly. The doctor still lay motionless, but he did not know for how much longer. 

 ** _< BROTHER, WE’RE GOING TO NEED TO MOVE, SOON.  >_** He spun back to the Beast briefly, to give him a quick nudge, eyes still on the Many-Handed.

His eye sockets glanced down at the many fallen skeletal hands, surrounding the doctor. 

 ** _< HE’S DANGEROUS.  > _**The Tallest said.

 ** _< but he’s _****_right_** ** _. >_** The Beast replied, softly.

The hands all lay limp, and unmoving. The Tallest stared hard at the holes in each hand.

One twitched.

The Tallest stepped back, startled.

 

And suddenly, he was far away, and days ago. 

 

The wind had been howling around the jagged Crag that led towards the hot, magma-filled lands. He remembered being surrounded by many white-ringed stares, the chattering of terrifying jaws.

He remembered a voice permeating his skull, and his body aching as it was twisted further and further out of shape. The dead, white-ringed gazes fixed on him from all angles, as the Many-Handed spoke to him. His SOUL trying desperately to protest the words spoken, the horrible and frightening shape being forced upon him.

 

He remembered fading away, staring up at the violet-lit gaze of the Doctor. 

 

* * *

 

**_WHAT KIND OF BROTHER ARE YOU… ?_ **

 

* * *

 

 

**_< … HE _ ** **_IS_ ** **_RIGHT. >_ **

There was a pause. 

**_< I COULD NOT STOP HIM.  >_ **

The Tallest’s gaze remained fixed on the doctor. But when the Beast spoke, he sounded startled.

**_< …what?  >_ **

**_ < I COULD NOT STOP HIM FROM TAKING YOU. >_** The Tallest said. **_< …COULD NOT HELP YOU. COULDN’T HELP YOU, EVEN BEFORE HE CAME AND TOOK YOU.  >_**

He shook his head. **_< YOU HURT, ALL ALONE. COULDN’T HELP.  >_**

There was the sound of bone scraping on steel as the Beast shifted position.

**_< what are you… what do you mean?  >_ **

**_< MADE MISTAKES.  >_** The Tallest continued. **_< CARELESS. PUT FRIENDS IN DANGER.  >_** He paused. **_< FAILED THEM. FAILED YOU, TOO.  >_**

**_< you didn’t…  >_ **  
****

The Tallest heard a quiet snarl from his brother. 

**_< that wasn’t… that wasn’t true.  >_ **

 

**_< THAT IS WHAT HE TOLD ME.  >_ **

 

There was a sudden silence. The Tallest turned back to focus on the Beast, who was staring back at him, eye sockets black.

 ** _< BUT YOU TOLD ME NOT TO LISTEN TO HIM.  > _**The Tallest continued. **_< REMEMBER?  >_**

There was another silence.

Then a grunt, as the Beast shakily managed to push himself up on his front legs, head now level with his shoulders. The focus returned in his tired eyes.

 ** _< … i remember.  >_** He said, blinking.

The Tallest huffed, glancing back at the Doctor.

 ** _< MAYBE IT’S ALL TRUE.  >_** He said. **_< WHAT HE SAYS, I MEAN. WE… KNOW IT’S TRUE.  >_**

He faltered. **_< … BUT ALL THE SAME - I DON’T THINK HE’S SAYING ANYTHING TO TRY TO _****_HELP_** ** _US. >_**

The Tallest suddenly stood up straight to face his brother, huffing. **_< IF HE WAS, WHY WOULD HE BOTHER TELLING US ALL THIS NOW?  >_**

The Tallest spun to face the unconscious doctor. 

 ** _< WE’RE _****_BUSY_** ** _!! >_** He snapped at him, pointedly. < ** _YOU’RE BEING VERY INCONSIDERATE!! WE HAVE THINGS TO DO AND THINGS TO REMEMBER! >_**

The doctor didn’t move. The Tallest snorted.  
****

**_< THAT’S RIGHT! YOU SIT THERE AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE DONE!  >_ **  
****

A sudden chuff sounded, and the Tallest spun to look over his shoulder, startled. He gave a soft whine as he realized his brother was trembling harder.

The Tallest squinted. 

Wait.

No…

… His brother was _laughing_. His bones trembled, the faintest trace of tears brimming from his shut eye sockets. 

His brother was laughing.

The Tallest watched as the Beast steadily collected himself, shaking his head.

 ** _< … he really _**_isn’t_ ** _that_** _considerate,_ ** _huh? >_** He drew in a shaky breath, as his eye sockets reopened. The Tallest sensed his fear - but turning to face him, he saw his rigid spines lowering.

 ** _< …’course…  >_** The older Blaster added, looking back up at him. **_< … i don’t think _**_he’s been too_ ** _interested in looking_** _out for us all that_ ** _much, recently. >_**

The Tallest huffed, but couldn’t help wagging his tail.

 ** _< _**_WHILE I!_ ** _ON THE OTHER HAND!_** _HAVE MY CLAWS FULL!_ ** _>_**  

The Beast snorted.

 ** _< r_** _eally, now?_ ** _ > _**He shot back. **_< _**_if i’m rememberin’ correctly, i had to carry ya a few hours back, baby bones._ ** _>_**

**_< _ ** _WELL, IF_ **_I’M_ ** _REMEMBERING CORRECTLY, I HAD TO TALK SOME SENSE INTO YOU! WITH AMNESIA, TO BOOT!_ **_ > _ **

The Beast crooned, shaking his head.

_< c’mon. i’m not the only one who forgot everything.  >_

 There was a sudden silence. 

_< … SANS?  >_

_< …yeah, bro?  >_

The taller Blaster’s eyesockets were starting to brim with tears. Though his features were still pulled into stubborn resolve.

 _< … YOU’RE NOT DUMB.  > _He said. _< AND YOU’RE NOT HELPLESS. I DIDN’T MEAN THAT.  >_

The older Blaster gaze a start.

 _< whoa, hey,  >_ Sans’ eye sockets were wide, the white pinpricks shrinking. _< it’s okay, i… i said some pretty lousy things, too.  > _He winced suddenly, flinching in what seemed like pain. 

Maybe it was a mix of instinct and emotion. The taller Blaster wasn’t sure. But he had stepped forward, butting his head against Sans’, eyes shut.

 _< I DIDN’T MEAN TO FORGET AGAIN, SANS.  >_ He muttered, almost afraid that the name would leave his head again.

He felt his brother push back with his own skull. chuffing in comfort.

 _< … it’s not your fault we’re havin’ trouble with that right now, papyrus.  > _Sans said, his voice shaking.

… He was Papyrus. His name was Papyrus. What a good and wonderful name he had.

The kind that should have been unforgettable.

Papyrus drew back from Sans, who shook his head, blinking.

 _< i… whoa. alright.  >_ He sighed. _< … the doc knocked us out for a while.  >_

He looked around, and Papyrus noted he was still shaking the slightest bit.

_< damage control. what’d we miss?  >_

The CORE rumbled loudly in the chamber beside them. A wave of heat burst through the shattered window of the CORE observation chamber. Sans braced himself against the steel wall with a wince, and Papyrus lowered to the floor.

 _< EVERYTHING STILL APPEARS TO BE TERRIBLE.  >_ He yelled over the noise.

He shook himself out after a quick stumble. Sans nodded wordlessly, giving a low growl. 

 _< y-yeah.  > _He muttered, shutting his eyes.

It was as Papyrus was rising back to his feet that noted that his brother’s tail was twitching erratically. Sweat was beading on his skull, something that he hadn’t noticed before. Papyrus stepped forward in concern.

_< … ARE YOU ALRIGHT?  > _

It didn’t seem like Sans was frightened. His brother still looked tired, there was a resolve there that hadn’t been around before - but Sans’ expression was screwed up in what seemed like discomfort.

 _< i, uh…  > _He shook his head. _< not sure.  > _

He pushed his upper body up, and Papyrus noted it was with great caution. He seemed to be wincing in the process. 

_< bro… something _ **_really_ ** _hurts. > _

Papyrus spotted one of his back legs stiffening beneath him.

He swallowed.

_< CAN YOU STAND? A-ALL THE WAY?  > _

Sans hesitated. Then, with a grunt, he tried to push himself up onto all fours.

 

It was then when Papyrus saw the clean fracture through his brother’s left tibia.

 

Sans gave a sharp gasp, blue flickering in his eye sockets. He quickly lowered himself back to the floor, hissing. He kept his forelegs and back left leg crouched beneath his body.

Sans drew in a shaky breath to steady himself.

 _< … hate to _**_break_** _it to ya. >_ He grimaced. _< but… leg’s definitely been better.  >_

Papyrus felt ill. 

 _< … THAT’S YOUR WORST JOKE YET.  > _He said.

Sans nodded, shakily pushing himself up on his forelegs once more. _< …yeah, you’re tellin’ me.  > _He stumbled to stand all the way, and Papyrus moved to support him. 

 _< WHAT HAPPENED?!  > _He asked, placing his head under Sans’ foreleg to his sternum and lifting him up.

 _< … must’ve happened when the doc’s blasters got to me.  >_ He heard his brother mutter.

Papyrus withdrew. With a grunt, Sans limped forward - but his back leg curled up off the ground the moment he tried to put any pressure on it. The back foot hung limply, and his tail twitched. 

 _< … i can walk.  >_ He offered, sweat beading on his skull. _ < … dunno how fast i can run, though. hurts… real bad, honestly. > _He admitted, a tremor entering his otherwise conversational tone.

Papyrus stepped away from Sans. _< WE NEED TO GET YOU HEALED UP. FIRST, WE SHOULD TRY TO FIND -  >_

He froze in his tracks. 

He suddenly spun towards the CORE Control Room. His gaze fell onto the shattered window of the CORE observatory, above the control panel.

 _< … UNDYNE.  >_ He whispered.

… Now more than ever, the CORE within the chamber looked turbulent. 

Papyrus wanted to believe it was some awful dream - some mishmash of memories that had occurred as he’d lost them. But no - he clearly recalled his dear friend being pushed through the window, the shattering of glass.

His sternum constricted in pain.

He remembered it all very clearly. His dear friend had -

_< … pap?  >_

Sans’ tone was startled. Papyrus slowly looked over his shoulder, his dull eye sockets flickering with orange.

 _< …you remember undyne?  > _He asked, wide-eyed.

There was a pause. Papyrus’ gaze fiercened, and he fully rounded on Sans. 

 _< OF _**_COURSE_** _I REMEMBER UNDYNE!! >_ He snarled. _< HOW COULD I EVER _**_FORGET_** _ABOUT - >_

There was a sudden silence. Papyrus’ eye sockets grew wide, and Sans gestured out with his claw.

 _< … I REMEMBER UNDYNE.  > _He whispered.

He began stamping his front legs, suddenly exhilarated.

_< I REMEMBER UNDYNE!!!  >_

The relief was a sudden as his sorrow. He darted into the CORE control room, peering out the CORE observation window.

There was no sign of her in the chamber. No trace of her - it was difficult to look closely into the chamber with the CORE itself obstructing most of his vision - but with his renewed excitement came faith in his friend’s abilities. This was Undyne, after all! 

Sure, he did not know where his friend was, nor did he have any knowledge of her safety - but Undyne had certainly gotten out of tougher scrapes than this!

 _< …SHE’S PROBABLY GOING TO BE ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS WHEN SHE LEARNS THAT WE TRIED TO LEAVE!  > _Papyrus said, brightly. _< SHE’LL SUPLEX THE BOTH OF US AND EVERYTHING!!  >_

Sans chuffed, as Papyrus trotted on back to him. _< well, we were kinda right.  > _He slowly limped to his brother’s side, his expression creased in concentration and pain. _< … we just needed to take someone with us.  >_

His gaze was on the wide of the hall. Suddenly aware of how loud he’d reacted, Papyrus’ followed his brother’s gaze to see Gaster. He still lay there, unconscious.

 _< … RIGHT.  >_ Papyrus said.

He turned to Sans. 

 _< I’LL CARRY HIM. CAN YOU KEEP UP?  >_ He asked. The statement was was half jovial, half-concerned. He didn’t like the idea of Sans being slower than usual - especially not now.

 _< never been able to, bro.  >_ Sans shrugged. _< sure i’ll find some way to keep up.  >_ He looked around at the CORE, grimacing. _< desperate times, and all that.  >_

Suddenly, he froze. 

His spines grew raised, and he stepped back.

Papyrus blinked. _< WHAT IS IT?  >_

Sans looked up at him. _< think you could knock him out, again?  >_

Papyrus blinked, frowning at the fairly unpleasant memory of shaking the doctor out like a helpless rag doll.

 _< …IF IT COMES TO THAT, YES.  > _He said. 

A gurgling, hacking cough sounded from behind him. He spun to see the doctor’s many arms slowly trying to push their host off the wall, his gaze fixed angrily on the two brothers before him.

Papyrus stepped back, feeling his throat begin to burn.

 

 _< that wasn’t a hypothetical, bro.  >_ Sans said, fire crackling in his jaws.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The dizziness was almost a relief.

 

For a few blissful moments, Gaster’s chaotic mind had become blank. His vision swam before him, everything sounded muffled. His surroundings were drenched in bright, violet light. 

And then he hacked up a gob of black ooze, and pain returned to him in droves.

His torso was pulling together after having been splattered against the wall and floor. His skull throbbed, merciless as his swimming gaze managed to clear.

Two, large and blurred beings of white swam into view before him.He glared sharply at them before they even came back into focus.

Sans was still close to the wall the Gaster and his weaponry had slammed him into. He looked alert, staring at him with all the focus of a poised beast. 

Otherwise, he looked angered. And exhausted.

Papyrus was stepping slightly in front of his brother, head raised high. His expression seemed unreadable - Gaster couldn’t tell his he was enraged or otherwise. He braced himself for the wild dash of an unpredictable animal, but instead of charging forward to shake him about once more, Papyrus remained put. 

He looked thoughtful

Gaster relaxed a little.

Oh, good. Papyrus was _thinking_. 

Hesitant to attack. 

In fact, both Blasters looked conscious. Gone were their coloured and blazing eyelights. Sans and Papyrus were standing before him in sound mind.

And they simply watched him, the beginnings of laser fire spluttering about their jaws - but restrained.

Gaster’s features twitched, as he pushed himself free of the wall, pulling himself into a forward crouch. His many arms lay limp around him, strewn about like cables and wires.

… **_I SEE YOU’VE COME TO PITY ME._** Gaster said, shakily.

At this, Papyrus tilted his head.

 _< NOT REALLY.  >_ He said. _ < IN FACT, I DO BELIEVE I’VE ALWAYS PITIED YOU! > _

There was a pause.

Sans gave a snort.

_< _ **_wow_ ** _, bro. > _

Papyrus glanced over his shoulder, though his eye socket kept darting to observe Gaster as he spoke.

 _< WELL, HE FELL INTO HIS OWN CREATION.  >_ Papyrus began. _< AND HE BECAUSE OF THAT, HE DIDN’T EXIST FOR A WHILE. NOT TO MENTION, HE’S ALL ON HIS OWN!  >_

He blinked. _< AND HE’S MAKING THINGS WORSE AND WORSE FOR HIMSELF IN AN ATTEMPT TO HAVE US ALL BEND TO HIS WILL! NONE OF THIS IS REALLY WORKING OUT FOR HIM, IS IT?  > _

There was a long pause.

Sans shrugged. _ < well, when you put it that way, guess there is a lot to pity. >_

Gaster stared hard at the creatures, feeling himself tremble.

**_YOU…_ **

He shakily stood, one knee locking at a time.

 ** _… IS THIS A_** ** _JOKE_** ** _TO YOU?_** He snarled.

At this, his former pupil gave him a hard look.

 _< see anyone laughing, doc?  >_ He asked.

 _< ALRIGHT.  > _Papyrus cut in, stepping forward. _< IT’S TIME TO GO, DOCTOR.  >_

Gaster staggered back, trying to coordinate the use of his legs.A few arms stretched out against the floor and wall, keeping him stable.

 ** _WHAT ARE YOU DOING?_** He asked, his remaining arms and fingers twitching in attempt to lift themselves from the floor.

 _< TAKING YOU AWAY FROM THE CONTROL ROOM, OF COURSE!  > _Papyrus said, simply. _< YOU APPEAR TO BE UNFIT FOR ALL THIS SCIENCE DUTY, AND I’D MUCH PREFER YOU BE ELSEWHERE WHILE THE CORE IS UNSTABLE.  >_

Gaster scrambled back further. His hands lifted off the floor, managing to peel their arms off the steel. 

Papyrus hesitated, watching the hands cautiously. But not with the same fear that he’d had, before.

Gaster tensed.

Because it was something they could _overcome_ , he realized. 

Even after imposing his will, even having lost their memories - here they were. Back here, continuing to stop him. Speaking to him as if he were some… ill old monster. 

They would not stop until they had won.

No matter what they had thrown at him, they still came back. Like cockroaches crushed underfoot, over and over.

Gaster’s form began to tremble.

None of this could have been in vain. This situation could not have slipped from his grasp. Not after everything he’d done. Not after how far he’d come.

He’d collected his SOUL pieces. Why wasn’t it working? Why couldn’t he be free of the Void?

What was he missing?!

Papyrus took another step. A snarl appeared on Gaster’s features.

No. He wouldn’t stop here. He couldn’t stop. He’d finally surpassed all the other parts of himself. The useless, doubtful, stalling parts - they were now silent.

He would _persevere_.

His gaze darted to Sans’ leg. The one he’d managed to break in his attempt to subdue him.

Gaster would persevere, like he always had. With the few tools that were granted to him, at any given time.

Anything. _Anything he could use._

With his sudden focus, he spread his arms wide. The familiar chatter of his Blaster skulls echoed around the halls as they materialised, surrounding him - and several clustered near the injured Sans, who flinched back, snarling.

Papyrus spun around, suddenly aware of Sans’ dilemma. His gaze darted back to Gaster, who glared back, fiercely.

 ** _COME ANY CLOSER, AND YOUR BROTHER LOSES_** ** _BOTH_** ** _BACK LEGS._** He hissed. 

Papyrus stepped back, head raised high. 

He did not seem to react much more, however. His eyes appeared to be narrowed in thought, as if to process the situation.

However, Sans’ expression was twisted into fury. His eyelights darted between the Blaster skulls next to him, and Gaster himself. He snarled, angrily. Helplessly.

That was more like it.

 ** _DON’T_** ** _TOUCH_** ** _ME._** Gaster hissed to Papyrus. **_DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT TAKING ME AWAY FROM HERE IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES._**

Neither Blaster moved, not even as Gaster began to slowly step towards the Control room. His arms began to reach from his back, holding him steady as he walked onwards.

The beginnings of a manic smile began to wriggle at the edge of his mouth.

Yes.

He had control. He dictated what happened next.

_He was in control._

 

_“HEY!”_

 

A voice rang out behind him.

He spun to face down the main hall, and both Blasters followed his gaze.

And there, standing tall despite their small stature, was Frisk.

The young human stood there, all alone. Their hands were balled to their sides, expression set into sheer determination.

_< … _ **_kid?!_ ** _>_

Sans’ voice sounded more shocked than anything. But the doctor didn’t look back at him.

He couldn’t believe his fortune. Had he been a less desperate monster, he would have almost doubted it. 

Almost.

“I’m what you want, right?” They yelled at him. “You just need to kill me, right?”

 _< FRISK?  >_ He heard Papyrus step forward, and immediately held his hand out to the side, causing the Blaster skulls to chatter in warning. 

 _< frisk, what’re you _**_doing?!_** _>_ Sans’ voice had become a startled snarl. Gaster saw them steal a quick glance to the Blasters beside him, before looking back at the doctor.

“You just have to catch me _first_ , okay?” They said, firmly.  

Gaster drew in a shaken breath.

Yes.

That was it.

That was all it would take. That would fix everything.

His vision tunnelled.

Reason left him. Doubt, as well. There was nothing in SOUL left to restrain him.

He surged forth at the small human. He heard the Blasters shriek from behind him as his spiderlike arms stretched out from his back, stampeding down towards his prey.

Frisk stepped back. 

Gaster spotted a small, black gadget with a number pad grasped in their hand - and a large yellow button that their thumb was now pressing down on. The human threw the gadget into the air above them.

He momentarily processed that it was a small cellphone, that fell almost squarely on the now-crouched Frisk’s back. It whirred and seemed to immediately unfold into some kind of harness around the small human’s torso, and extend into a strangely larger contraption. 

Gaster reached forward with all the speed he could muster, before the process could complete.

He was a second too late.

A roar of fire and Frisk had suddenly vanished from sight. He felt a searing heat from below his arms as torso as the human weaved through the arms that had carried him forward. 

He whirled around to face the human, a trail of smoke briefly obscuring his vision. But even that could not detract from the sheer strangeness of the situation.

Frisk was hovering before a very startled Sans and Papyrus. _Hovering_.

The small human now appeared to be in possession of a portable jetpack. Two steel aerodynamic wings protruded from both sides, and their hands clutched the front of the steel harness that had formed over their sweater.

A marvel of engineering.

The face of a certain yellow lizard monster returned to memory.

… Gaster truly should have killed that scientist.

“I _said_ , you have to _catch_ me!” Frisk clarified over the roar of the rocket engine. 

His focus tunnelled once more as Frisk shot off down the hall, over the heads of the two Blasters. With a wave of his arms, Gaster willed a command into the remaining Blasters.

 ** _DO NOT LET ANYONE ELSE INTERFERE._** He hissed.

He surged after Frisk, deftly weaving through the two Blasters as two of his weapons accompanied him in his pursuit. He felt one of the brothers snap at him, but cared not who it was.

It would not matter.

Nothing else mattered.

This was his final resort. This would fix everything.

It would fix everything…

 

… It _had_ to fix everything.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Sans was shaking. He wanted to throw himself after the pursuit. He felt himself beating his protective instincts down with a stick, watching Frisk vanish out of sight around the curve of the hall - Gaster pursuing them.

But they had something more immediate to deal with.

Papyrus made the attempt to chase after Frisk and Gaster - only for a Blaster skull to zip into his path, stopping him in his tracks.

 _< Do NoT! dO! DO nOt!  >_ It chattered at him, as another swooped in, biting down hard on Papyrus’ ribcage. The taller Blaster yelped, and slammed himself into the wall, smashing the Blaster skull hard into the steel.

Sans rose to intervene, but another Blaster skull darted into his face.

 _< DOn’T iNTeRfeRE!  >_ It parroted Gaster’s command back at him. _< DoN’T inTeRveNE!  >_

 _< …i’m getting reeeal tired of seeing your faces.  >_ Sans said. 

He lunged forward and snapped at it. It withdrew, light collecting in its maw. 

Taking in a breath, Sans had moments to throw himself out of the way as a blast hit the wall he’d been leaning against, moments earlier.

After being impacted by a heavy Blaster creature, however, this particular wall had seen better days. 

The laser blast tore directly _through_ it, causing the steel to buckle and fold, melting away to the tiles below and burning through the tiles below.

Sans saw the ceramic floor next to it begin to fall away, weakened by the impact. He scrambled back, trying not to fall with the opening hole - but caught sight of the Blaster skull responsible, chattering in panic.

He swiped out at it, his claw catching into the side of its jaw.

As the floor gave way, he pulled the chattering skull in close, placing both his foreclaws atop it - and in turn his full weight. 

The skull shattered from the impact as he landed on the level below. His leg spasmed in pain. The debris kept falling around him and he curled up as Papyrus jumped down after him, having kicked away his attacker. Gashes were visible on his ribcage.

Sans looked up, upon hearing the approaching roar of rocket engines, growing louder and louder. He felt Papyrus shove him away from the large hole in the ceiling, and he stumbled into motion.

Frisk was coming back around, and in turn, Gaster.

The sound grew louder and louder, until finally it soared above them. Sans saw a flash of orange from the jet fire through the large hole in the ceiling, and the remaining Blaster skulls were suddenly distracted by the noise.

As it faded, Sans heard the clicking stampede of Gaster’s many hands above them as well. The bony clicking on tiles faded alarmingly quickly as he passed by from above.

The cacophony faded into the distance, once more.

 _< … HE’S FAST.  >_ Papyrus said, gritting his teeth. Then, he pulled away from Sans. _< SORRY. I WAS MAKING SURE HE DIDN’T SEE US.  >_

Sans nodded, wincing again at the pain in his leg as he looked around at his surroundings.

This level was similar to the Control Panel level. A hall, curling into a circle surrounding the CORE chamber - reinforced glass windows allowing anyone to view the CORE itself. Most levels of the facility were identical to it - continuing on from the top to the bottom of the chamber. 

Most of the windows were usually covered in shutters. The facility must have opened them during varying states of power, Sans realized.

He gazed into the chamber, watching the CORE flicker into a dark red, washes of violet streaking around its surface.

Sans could clearly see the hall windows on the other side of the chamber - though much of it was obstructed by the crackling, unstable CORE.

_< SANS, LOOK!  >_

Sans followed Papyrus’ gaze. Across the way, on the Control Panel level, Frisk could be seen shooting through the hall. Gaster was pursuing them alongside his two Blaster skulls - and they were shooting laser fire after their target.

Frisk dodged with ease, though several shots skimmed the wings of their jetpack. They spun out of control for a few harrowing moments, before righting themself and heading out of sight, about to perform a second loop.

The kid couldn’t shake him forever, Sans realized in mounting terror. And Gaster would not stop his pursuit.

… Where the hell was the captain when they needed her?!

Sans stood up. _< we gotta go help ‘em. wait until they circle back.  > _He added, glancing up at the large opening in the ceiling.

Papyrus looked back at him, frowning. _< I COULDN’T AGREE MORE. BUT… CAN YOU JUMP BACK UP?!  >_

The taller Blaster seemed hesitant. He was clearly poised to leap up and help Frisk - but Sans could feel his eyes trained on him. 

There wasn’t any doubt as to why. Sans’ leg felt as if it was on _fire._

Papyrus concerned features were lit up in the flickering blue of Sans’ eye sockets, as his brother winced again.

 _< YOU’RE GROWLING.  >_ Papyrus said, blinking. _< ARE YOU ALL THERE?  >_

Sans shook his head, a wordless groan escaping him. He wasn’t exactly fighting to keep _control_ , or anything. But that pain was making it difficult to keep his head on straight. 

 _< m’still here.  > _He said, frustrated. _< just…  >_

Papyrus trotted forward, frowning. 

 _< … YOUR LEG’S GOTTEN WORSE.  > _He said, softly. _< IT LOOKS LIKE IT’S HANGING BY A -  >_

Sans hadn’t needed Papyrus to continue with the description, and thankfully his brother seemed to agree, cutting himself off with a groan.

He could barely focus through the pain like this. And as someone who’d prided himself in dodging, he was now little more that a sitting duck.

Sans butted his head against the window frame and shut his eyes, as he heard Gaster screech from upstairs, still in pursuit of Frisk.

He hated this.

Helpless in the CORE halls, _again_. 

Stuck in this damn form, _again_. 

He was currently out of Gaster’s sight and mind - but everything about this situation bothered him more than he was cared to admit.. 

His tail lashed back and forth.

 _< …_ ** _you_** _gotta go help frisk, bro. >_ Sans snarled. _< i can’t do much like this.  >_

Papyrus growled back, more out of concern than protest. Before he could say anything, however, Sans stared hard at him.

 _< bro, trust me, i’m not sayin’ any of this for the sake of bein’ scared or - or trusting you, or whatever.  > _He said, as pointedly as he could. _< it just hurts to move, and the kid’s short on time. you’re the fastest out of both of us.  >_

Papyrus stepped back. _< I NEED TO KNOW HOW YOU’LL ESCAPE.  >_ He said, firmly. _< YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO HIDE FOR LONG!  >_

Sans gritted his teeth. He thought hard, tried to figure out a plan - but pain made it hard to think up a solution. He kept coming up blank.

Damn it.

 _< … if this damn leg _**_wasn’t here…_** _> _ He snarled loudly.

 

And then, just as suddenly as that, the pain vanished.

 

Sans blinked, startled. Scratch that. He couldn’t feel _anything_ in his leg.

_< … SANS?!  >_

Papyrus was staring at him. Eye sockets wide, expression unreadable. He appeared to have reflexively taken a step back, though immediately took two steps forward. Eye sockets narrowing in focus.

_< … WHAT’S… WHAT DID YOU… ?  >_

Sans looked over his shoulder, to look closer at his injury.

He froze.

Both brothers stared for a moment. Sans felt a chill, a panic rising in his sternum.

_< what…  >_

Then, as suddenly as it had left, the pain and all feeling in his leg returned. Sans hissed loudly, collapsing to the floor. 

 _< … what in the _**_hell_** _… > _He muttered, his eye sockets black with shock. 

 _< B-BROTHER.  > _Papyrus stepped forward in concern, still wide-eyed. _< YOU… HOW DID YOU…?  >_

Sans shook his head, blinking hard. _< i don’t… i don’t know… i just thought about not having -  >_

A crash sounded above them. Both brothers looked up, as the roar of rockets began to approach once again.

 _< FRISK.  >_ Papyrus said, wide-eyed.

He suddenly looked down at Sans. _< … THIS… SANS, THIS IS AN OPTION. THIS IS A PLAN, RIGHT?  >_

Sans shook his head. This was all happening too fast.

_< i don’t -  >_

He drew in a breath to steady himself. _< … i… yeah, i think so. i could… i could get myself _**_out_** _of here, or… >_

… or he could help. He could do _something._

He shook his head. _< … i’ll give it a try, yeah.  >_

He looked up Papyrus, suddenly stern. _< there’s your plan, bro. now you gotta go help frisk.  >_

His brother looked uncertain, and heck, he couldn’t blame him. He wondered how many stupid things he’d done to worry him in the last couple of days. 

Still, the sound of Frisk’s jetpack was fast approaching. And with that, his gaze hardened.

 _< WE’LL MEET YOU SOON! DON’T BE LATE!  > _He yelled. And leapt up to the level above with a loud snarl.

There was the sound of a heavy collision as Sans looked up, seeing Gaster crash into Papyrus with a startled cry. There were sounds of howling and a loud scuffle, just out of sight.

Then, the dark and mangled form of the doctor whipped overhead in the opposite direction, the beastly Papyrus chasing after him.

Sans lowered himself to the ground, inching away from the large opening in the ceiling. He felt the air buzzing around him, and braced himself for another CORE surge, his eye socket throbbing.

Still, he kept focus. 

He found himself out through the window, into the CORE chamber. He could see Papyrus chasing Gaster, now, through the hall on the opposite side. 

Frisk had slowed their jets, startled at his intervention. But they seemed no less exuberant to see Papyrus close by, yelling in excitement. As the pursuing Blaster skulls fired their lasers, they dodged with renewed energy.

Sans tried to focus on his own dilemma. His plan.

His leg.

He was honestly uncertain on _how_ he’d managed to… make the pain disappear. He had to _want_ it, obviously. But the _how_ left him disturbed. 

Sans shook his head. This wasn’t the time to freeze up. He looked back out the window, seeing where Gaster, Frisk and Papyrus were -

\- only to have something else catch his eye.

Far, far down on the lower windowed levels on the opposite side of the CORE chamber, Sans saw two people running as quickly as they could through the hall.

A bewildered smile appeared on his beastly features, and he shook with relieved laughter.

< heh. >

 _There_ they were. 

Undyne and Alphys…  they were alive and unharmed, running as fast as they could through the lower level of the CORE facility. The scientist was periodically glancing over her shoulder as she ran, leading Undyne down the hall. 

It was at a second glance that Sans noticed that Undyne was carrying something fairly large.

It was a canister, tucked underneath her arm. Sans had to look harder as they disappeared behind the CORE for a moment, but there was something about that canister that looked familiar.

As they reappeared from the other side, the glow of the canister caught Sans’ eye.

His sternum constricted. His smile dropped.

The ceramic cracked beneath his claws.

 

… Oh.

 

He grimaced, as his leg flared up in pain again. But his gaze followed the captain as she continued to dash onwards, she and Alphys disappearing out of sight for now.

His gaze darted up to Frisk on the upper levels, still evading Blaster fire with alarming precision. He then glanced at Gaster, who continued to lunge at the human at any given opportunity. 

 

 _< … so _**_that’s_** _your play. > _He said, in wonder.

 

It… was risky. Stupid. Desperate.

But it was a plan. A solid one. One that could definitely work, if everyone put their back into it. 

And he needed to pull his weight too, for once.

Sans’ gaze darted to the ceiling above him. 

The Control Panel was nearby. If he stuck around here, he risked drawing too much attention to it. That could jeopardise a lot. They needed to keep Gaster away from the control panel as long as they could, after all. 

And while Papyrus and Frisk were an good enough distraction, they needed something _else_ to fall back on.

Sans felt a chill, as he drew in a shaken breath.He knew what he could do to help, even in his current state. 

And he _hated_ it. 

He hated the idea. The thought made his eye sockets flicker with blue, once more. But this was something that could work. This was something that could protect the others, without throwing himself helplessly into the line of fire.

 _None_ of this belonged to Gaster anymore, he reminded himself. It was time to remind the doctor of that, too.

And with that, the pain vanished in his leg, once more. 

He felt himself relax in relief, though chose to focus hard on the fight unfolding before him, rather than his leg. He chose to focus on who he was doing this _for,_ as he felt the panic bubble up inside him again.

Breathe. Focus.

He looked up at the fight across the way, hearing a shriek as Papyrus rammed into a Blaster skull with alarming speed. 

_… Man._

His brother and Frisk were so _cool._

Sans felt couldn’t really hold a candle to either of them. He’d always been a touch too lazy to have Papyrus’ flair, or Frisk’s nimble dodging. 

He had shades of both, he supposed. But Papyrus and Frisk owned it in a way that Sans didn’t think he couldn’t compare to. They were driven to save the ones they cared for.

Not that Sans assumed they acted on that basis alone. Other things - selfish things - definitely drove them, too. But sympathy was generally their main motivator.

Sans wondered if he could be motivated like that more often. 

He knew he’d always sought to protect. But he’d protected out of fear, or anger. He couldn’t help but have a nice big bag of spite tucked away for anyone who’d done ill - barbs beneath his laid back demeanour. 

Wasn’t anything wrong with that, of course. But he wasn’t like Papyrus or Frisk.

He was a judge. An observer. He was only a fighter when the time really called for it. But he’d never really felt _heroic._

Sans gave a small shrug, while he still could.

 

 

 

After all, _his_ brand of heroism usually came in the form of pulling every dirty trick in the book.


	35. A Catharsis

An orange laser burned past Gaster.

 

Shrieks echoed through the halls.

The stench of rocket fuel filled his senses.

The halls whipped by him. The trail of jet fire curled away from him as his hands stampeded against the floor and walls and ceiling.

Gaster almost didn’t notice any of it.

Frisk was speeding away from him, yet his vision continued to tunnel onto the small human as if they were a beacon.

Even Papyrus, who thundered down the hall behind him - having joined the chase from heavens-knows-where - was beginning to become little more than background noise to him.

 

Yes.

 

This was it.

This was the way it should be.

Just him. Just the doctor and this _focus_.

No voices, boggling about his mind. No arguments within his skull, none of his body working against him.

Everything flowed, in a smooth exhilarating machine. Everything within him meshed together as it should.

He hadn’t won yet. Gaster understood that. But the doctor almost felt a moment of peace, as the chaos unravelled around him.

He gestured forth, still in the serenity of the moment. Three Blaster skulls darted forward in response, light collecting in their respective maws.

The whine of another laser sounded from behind the doctor, and he effortlessly whipped around to dodge as Papyrus let forth his own blast.

Gaster heard a shriek and a clatter, and glanced down to see the remains of one of the Blaster skulls, passing underneath him as they continued onwards down the hall.

He turned again, seeing the two remaining Blaster skulls releasing their own blasts towards the fleeing human.

Frisk suddenly seemed to drop from midair, straight out of their line of fire. The human swept inches over the tiles, and Papyrus shot again from behind. Another Blaster skull exploded into shards and light.

Gaster chuckled.

The human had a talent for dodging, that was for certain.

He gestured backwards, and the remaining Blaster retreated a few metres away from Frisk, back to his side.

He could hear Papyrus keeping pace behind him, the creature panting wolfishly - but the doctor knew that he would not tire easily.

His gaze off of Frisk for a moment, Gaster spun around once more - his extra hands continuing their pace to carry him towards the human. He gestured, and the Blaster turned to face Papyrus as well, building up a laser blast in its maw.

Orange flickered in Papyrus’ eye sockets for the briefest of moments. He stumbled into a slower pace, allowing some distance between himself and the doctor.

Gaster smiled. He rose his free hand, as the Blaster skull beside him reached full charge -

\- and turned to face the retreating Frisk.

He brought his hand down. The Blaster fired.

One of Frisk’s wings exploded.

There was a shriek of terror from Papyrus. The human kicked about as their small craft spiralled out of control.

They bounced off the ground, the rocket engine spluttering as the human hastily began pressing buttons on the front of their harness.

The mechanism released Frisk, and they hit the floor, rolling from the impact.

Rather than crash into pieces, their harness suddenly collapsed into itself. It spun and shifted and flipped until it was simply a phone once more, clattering across the tiles.

Frisk rolled to a stop next to it, their arms immediately scrambling for the object. But they were clearly disoriented. They tried to stand, and only leaned heavily to the side, staggering directly into the wall.

 _< HOLD ON, FRISK!  > _Came a sudden bark from behind Gaster. The human finally managed to grab their phone - and promptly fell against the wall with a groan.

Gaster smirked, eyes fixed on the helpless human. He waved a hand forth as Papyrus darted past him, distracted.

A Blaster skull obediently hovered by Gaster’s side at his summons. The whine of the laser charge sounded as it gathered its energy.

The doctor brought his hand down in one decisive command.

 

And then the Blaster skull exploded into shards beside him.

 

Like that, the focus disappeared.

The doctor flinched away from the blast, startled. A scrabbling of claws sounded, and Gaster looked up in time to see Papyrus reach Frisk.

The taller Blaster closed his jaws on the back of Frisk’s sweater and picked them up - darting away from the doctor and down the hall.

In a smouldering rage, Gaster spun around, scanning the area with a snarl. His focus was interrupted. Ruined.

A laser blast had shot down his weapon before it could fire - and Papyrus had clearly been busy attempting to save the human -

Gaster’s glare intensified.

Sans.

… It had to have been Sans. Of course.

The other Blaster may have been injured, but his laser was still functional.

Gaster frowned, as he looked around. He could not see the other beast anywhere - not even across the CORE chamber, in some sort of concealed level in the facility.

The other skeleton brother, however, was a deceptive one. The Blaster was clearly capable of trickery.

He gestured with both hands.

What remained of the Blaster platoon materialised around him. A substantial amount - a solid eight.

Gaster found himself smiling at that familiar number. This was all he would need.

 ** _FIND HIM._** He commanded the chattering platoon, turning his attention to the retreating Papyrus, vanishing around the curve of the hall. **_FINISH HIM FOR GOOD._**

Gaster was certain of one thing - Sans was injured.  
 ****

He would not get far. He was now simply a broken, malfunctioning weapon - one he could not coax or control.

No matter what strings he pulled.

Gaster frowned, his mind returning to the matter at hand. His target had been carried out of sight, and he needed to rectify this.

He surged forth, stampeding down the hall once more with a quick summoning gesture. Two Blaster skulls broke off from the rest of the platoon and darted ahead of him - leading the way, fixated on his target.

The doctor focused as Papyrus came back into view, around the curve of the hall. However, rather than running, his slender form was suddenly still - his back still facing towards Gaster.

He had stopped completely, and now seemed to be digging furiously into the tiled floor beneath him, Frisk still clutched in his jaws. Debris and ceramic shards were flying behind him as he dug.

Papyrus was trying to drop to the facility level beneath them, the doctor realized. Trying to escape. And he couldn’t use his laser because of his precious cargo.

With a smirk, Gaster thrust a hand out to the Blaster beast, listening to both lasers charge within his weapons. Papyrus must have noted his presence, as he suddenly began digging with more desperation and force than he had, before -

 

\- and then, the left Blaster skull suddenly slammed into the right.

 

Gaster stumbled, off balance, as both skulls slammed into the wall from the impact, bouncing off the ceiling and floor, respectively. They vanished behind him, shrieking in pain.

The doctor whirled around, agitated. Then, he froze.

The group he’d sent to hunt down Sans were now clustered behind them. In their many faces, he saw panic and confusion. They all chattered, ceaselessly.

 

 

< FriENd! FRIeNd! WhY? wHy? >

 

< WeAKeNED uS! >

 

<wHo’s tHeRe? WhO’s wHeRe? >

 

< BuRNiNg bUrNInG BUrNing buRniNG - >

 

Gaster faced the group, wide-eyed. He could not see either of the two Blaster skull who had failed to take their shot, seconds ago. In spite of their cracks and scars, they were indistinct from the rest of the group.

A burning anger rose in him.

 ** _WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL?_** He growled.

Suddenly, there was the clatter of plaster. Gaster spun around, just in time to see Papyrus’ lengthly tail vanish into the large hole in the floor. The dust of debris curled in the air, catching the violet light of the CORE.

The whine of a laser sounded before Gaster could pursue.

There was loud explosion behind him, and a shower of white shards clattered on the tiles beneath him. Gaster’s arms pulled him away from the group, and he turned to face them, wide-eyed.

Yet another Blaster skull had been shot and disintegrated.

The cluster of Blasters began to shriek and chatter in panic. One threw itself into the CORE window, causing a web of cracks to appear. Several skulls scattered away, one colliding hard into Gaster in its panic.

He shoved it away with his many hands, his shocked expression twisting into a scowl.

 ** _ENOUGH!_** He snapped at the weapon, who chattered back, morosely.

The Blaster skull responded to his words - with the rest of the cluster chiming in with more of their garbled nonsense.

 

 

_< PaCk hURt mE! PACk HUrT!  >_

 

_< NoT mE! nOt mE!  >_

 

_< KiLL! BuRn! KILL! BURN!  >_

 

_< I mUsT bE sAfE! I mUSt Be SaFE!  >_

 

The Blaster skull pulled out of his grasp, backing into another agitated skull. It shrieked and bit at the other. They suddenly rounded on each other, snapping, shrieking and hissing. Another one within the cluster pursued another, charging its laser as its target shrieked, attempting to escape.

Gaster gritted his teeth.

He held up all his entire swath of hands, eyesockets narrowed.

 ** _STOP THIS!_** He hissed. **_AFTER THE HUMAN!_**

Several Blaster skulls managed to fall in line, even the fleeing ones turning around and returning to  their master. But two more were still chattering and snarling at each other, growling threateningly as they floated apart.

 

_< think you’re losin’ your _ **_touch_ ** _there, doc. >_

 

Gaster’s eye sockets grew wide.

He spun around - slamming a hand on the Blaster closest to him. Imposing his will as best he could.

 

_< and that’s saying a lot. you know, considering.  >_

 

The doctor’s many arms twitched, erratically, his gaze darting about. He looked across the chamber, over his shoulder, down the hall. He even glanced down at the hole in the floor.

Sans’ voice was close.

 ** _SHOW YOURSELF._** Gaster demanded, eyelights shrinking into pinpricks.

There was the whine of a laser. Another Blaster exploded into shards, and Gaster darted away from the cluster, his gaze furiously searching his surroundings.

 

_< nah. that’d take more effort than i’m willing to put in, right now.  >_

 

A furious grin appeared on the doctor’s features.

 ** _NO EFFORT TO ASSIST YOUR OWN BROTHER, I SEE._** He said, his eyes darting around the halls in search of the Blaster.

 

 _< pap’s got this covered. > _Came the reply. _< he’s probably better suited for protecting the kid, honestly.  >_

 

Gaster’s features twisted into a frown as he heard the voice speaking from behind him, once more.

 

_< y’know, you got a lot of nerve, doc.  >_

 

He whipped around. He saw nothing, but a few other of his chattering weaponry.

 

_< being all high and mighty about the dangers of doing stuff ‘at the cost of everyone else.’  last i checked - pulling receipts on folks was _ **_my_ ** _job. one of ‘em, anyway. >_

 

There was no trace of Sans. With a growl, Gaster turned to look down the hall after Papyrus.

But in doing so, his gaze was caught by a bright flash. A rumble sounded, and he suddenly looked over at the large chamber beside him.

His eye sockets grew wide.

The CORE was rippling with all kinds of furious colours - red, blue, orange, even teal raging across the surface in streaks.

 

_<   while we’re at it, weren’t _ **_you_ ** _were the one who wanted that test run for the coolant, all those years ago? before it was even ready? >_

 

Gaster stared at the CORE.

He had never seen his creation so…  large, before. The view would have been frightening in some ways - but moreso, it was fascinating. It churned with power and heat. It was about to hit critical mass.

The only thing that brought him back into the room was the realization that the explosion could kill Frisk. The answer to all his problems.

Gaster’s fascinated smile faded.

…but what of the nature of the explosion?

Would it also erase the human from existence, rendering his efforts for naught?

Gaster shook his head, a rising feeling of discomfort within him. He was away from his target, and the concentration he’d had was slipping away entirely. Without the high of his focus, the air seemed… heavier. Constricting.

He reached out for the parts of himself he’d dismissed, to help piece together the situation before him. But he received no response.

He’d conquered them, after all.

Now he was alone.

 

 _< you were the one who wanted to throw everything in danger, despite what everyone else thought.  > _Came Sans’ voice, once again.

 

Gaster’s fear dissolved into irritation.

 

_< you worked owel into the ground, treated reno like dirt - made sprig work to the point of passin’ out, trying to figure out all your secrets. not to mention, you kept dismissing val. you rode off the back of the folks who actually cared about the core, and the monsters that depended on it…  >_

 

 ** _SHUT UP._** Gaster muttered.

He began to turn towards the direction of the Control Panel room, only for a shrieking Blaster skull to slam into his form. He reeled, coughing as his many arms braced out to the sides of the hall.

He snarled, looking up at the offending weapon. It had a few more bite marks upon it - visibly fleeing from a scuffle from another one of the malfunctioning weapons. At this rate, barely functional in its poorly-made, battered state.

 

_< And while all that went down, you just sat back, spending your time making things that depended on you. stuff only _ **_you_ ** _could really control. >_

 

The doctor twitched.

He pointed at the offending, malfunctioning Blaster skull, who shrieked in alarm. The other two turned on it by command.

It was promptly blasted it into shards.

The satisfaction Gaster felt was short lived, as the voice continued speaking.

 

_< you know, maybe i _ **_was_ ** _a stupid kid. a stupid kid with dangerous powers. powers that you wanted to be kept under wraps. i get that. >_

 

The CORE hummed once more, reverberating as it turned a deep magenta. The halls were soaked in reds and purples as it rumbled louder.

Gaster turned to face it.

He could see his startled reflection in the reinforced glass.

 

_< terrible reason to make the mutagen, though.  >_

 

The doctor watched his reflection began to twitch and spasm.

A humming sound reverberated through the halls. Gaster felt something in himself pull in one direction, then another. Then two parts, pulling in opposing directions. Then three. Four.

He could see his body pulling apart. Stretching every which way - not unlike his many arms.

Gaster gritted his teeth, his hands all bracing out to the sides of the hall, keeping him suspended as if he were in the center of a tarlike web.

 

_< you want the solution that makes everything easy. that fixes everything. don’t think i don’t i get that.  >_

 

The air sliced open around them, once more. With such force that Gaster could barely find it in himself to think.

The Blasters around him began shrieking in panic, once more. Several cries were cut off - punctuated by the sound of shattering and roaring.

The other parts of Gaster’s SOUL were still silent - having finally submitted to his will. But his body destabilised, his being twitching and warping.

He felt his cranium split open. The crack above his right eye became a chasm, stretching further and further apart. Gaster watched his reflection, seeing nothing but blackness inside his very own skull. His eyesockets flashed violet, flickering wildly in response to the CORE’s energy.

He was unrecognisable. Falling apart.

When Sans spoke next, his voice was strained.

 

_< i think you know that stuff like this doesn’t get _ **_fixed_ ** _so easily, doc. >_

 

The black rifts vanished and Gaster forcibly pulled his being back into his centre. His cranium slammed back together. He dropped heavily to the ground, shaking in pain. His many arms lay like a mess of black tape upon the tiles.

He looked around himself. There were new shards on the floor, the remains of Blasters that had failed to duck out of the paths of the rifts in time.

 

_< i get wanting things to be simple, again. i get wanting to do whatever you can so it’ll _ **_stay_ ** _that way. >_

 

Gaster’s eyes darted from Blaster skull to Blaster skull.

Out of the makeshift platoon he had managed to construct, there were only three left.

 

_< you’re right about me, you know? i’m not the nicest of guys. i tried to fix things, quickly.  even tried to push ‘em out of sight and mind, just so things could be convenient - nice ’n easy.  >_

 

The doctor’s arms lashed out at the three Blaster skulls, attempting to dismiss them back into his inventory. But at the sudden movement, they scattered, shrieking in terror.

The rifts had disoriented them once more. And he’d lost his own focus.

 

_< guess i haven’t been much better than you, on that side of things. promises or none.  >_

 

One Blaster skull shrieked, turning on the other in seconds. Its massive jaws clamped down on the other’s crest, causing cracks to travel down its skull.

They struggled and wrestled, slamming each other against the walls of the hall in a maddened, frenzied struggle.

 

_< we ain’t so different, i guess. but see - the thing is, i’ve decided that i’m not about to drag everyone down into oblivion with me just to make myself feel better. just to prove a point.  >_

 

Shards began to fall off them both. The third Blaster skull darted behind Gaster, seeking shelter. It chattered loudly as it watched the scuffle.

Finally, one Blaster skull bit hard into the cranium of the other. The force of its own bite caused its own jaw to crack, the lines travelling up its snout. The lights in its eye sockets extinguished, and it crashed to the floor. The other hovered for a few moments, free of the other’s grasp - only to fall upon the tiles and shatter.

 

_< oh yeah. that reminds me, actually.  >_

 

Gaster stared hard at the mess of shards and shattered skulls before him, his features twisted into fear.

 

_< i never _ **_did_ ** _answer your question, back in waterfall. a few days ago. >_

 

The doctor’s gaze darted about, wildly. At the empty halls - across the chamber, everywhere he could see.

 

_< you know the one. about how it feels, havin’ your own weapons turn on you.  >_

 

Gaster froze.

 

_< i can tell ya now. it’s not a great feeling.  >_

 

Slowly, he turned to the final Blaster skull at his side.

He looked down into its large, black eye sockets.

 

_< then again…  >_

 

Within one socket, one blue ring flickered into view.

 

_< Y o u   k n e w   t h a t ,   d i  d n ‘ t   y o u ?  >_

 

Gaster stepped back as the skull lunged at him.

White, glowing skeletal claws appeared inches from his face and they dug deep into his black, tarlike torso. He saw blue, veinlike patterns of light surge up from them, reforming Sans’ forelegs, his scapulae, his ribcage…

Sans’ body was still glowing as Gaster felt the full weight of the Blaster hit him with all the force of a train. The collision knocked any proverbial wind out of the doctor and all he saw was the teeth and claws of his own creation.

Just as Sans’ back legs had reformed, Gaster felt himself collide into the glass of the CORE chamber from the force. He heard the glass crack and splinter and shatter and suddenly the heat of the chamber assailed him from all sides.

For a moment, he felt numb horror. But the free-fall he expected didn’t come.

Instead, here in the chamber, he felt his back collide into a burning, steel platform.

 

 

* * *

 

A loud crash of glass echoed through the halls.

Papyrus’ head snapped to face the sound, eyes wide.

He trotted to a stop, still keeping Frisk’s sweater tightly gripped in his jaws. He glanced around at the halls, then across the CORE chamber.

Where had that come from…?

“Papyrus…?”

Frisk’s voice brought him out of his thoughts, and he looked down at the human. They looked a little more alert than they’d been earlier, but he could still see the exhaustion in their features.

“Y-you alright?” They asked, dazedly. Then, they winced in pain, rubbing at their side.

Papyrus crooned, looking around. It certainly figured that their friend would still be checking up on the wellbeing of others, despite everything.

He couldn’t hear the Blaster skulls anywhere nearby - nor could he sense Gaster in the immediate vicinity. But he needed to set the poor Frisk down, somewhere…

“…we’re on the Control Room level, right?”

Papyrus blinked, glancing down at the bleary-eyed Frisk. They shook their head, managing to pocket their phone.

“… O-okay.” They said, more to themself. “…We need to get over there.”

Papyrus crooned in confusion. Frisk looked back up at him, managing a firm look.

“I’ll explain later.” They said, quietly. “I… We have a plan.”

Papyrus gave a huff, then glanced around again.

Though he wished that the human would say more, the Blaster obliged, darting down the hall. This was no time to be standing out in the open like this.

Besides, it appeared Frisk wasn’t alone in their shenanigans! Which meant…

“… Papyrus?”

The Blaster blinked, looking down at Frisk.

“Sans was with you…” They said, quietly. “With Gaster…”

They looked up at him, concerned.

“… Is Sans safe?”

Papyrus hesitated. He gave a quick glance over his shoulder, seeing nothing but the empty hall.

He told himself not to worry. Not too much, at least.

Sans wasn’t doubting him, anymore. Papyrus felt that he should attempt to do the same.

Though he kept at ear out, regardless.

Papyrus looked down at Frisk, crooning reassuringly. He wasn’t sure if he could answer the human’s question. And not simply because he was literally unable to answer questions right now.

_< … HE’S GOT A WAY OUT OF HERE.  >_ He said, more to himself than Frisk. And yet, Papyrus was uncertain if his brother would take that option.

They’d simply agreed to meet after all this was over. And Papyrus couldn’t help but wonder what his brother would do in the meantime.

As the Blaster darted down the hall, he could see the shards of dispatched Blaster skulls coming closer and closer. Slowing his pace, he was careful to step over them, giving a quiet whine as he did so.

They were close to the Control Panel, again. He’d made a full circuit around the facility hall around the CORE chamber.

He slowed down, all the way.  He approached the battered sliding doors, his sternum growing tight.

He forcibly tried not to think about the image of his good friend being hurled through the window, directly into the chamber itself. Which, of course, meant it was all he could think about.

His bones were rattling as he peered into the room, cautiously.

 

And a teal-green fist stopped inches from his snout.

 

Undyne and Papyrus stared at each other for five seconds.

The Blaster nearly let out an excited yelp - though soon realized that any sounds he’d make would be muffled by Frisk.

And at the same time, Undyne had slammed her hands over her own mouth.

 _“MMMMmM.”_ She reprimanded, her eye blazing in anger. Yet Papyrus couldn’t care less, stamping his feet in excitement.

The captain waved her hand, holding a finger over her thinly pressed lips.

Papyrus, though a little confused, obliged. He dipped his head, gaze darting about and falling silent.

Frisk waved at her, pressing their lips together. Leaning his head forward, Papyrus finally released them as Undyne took hold of them, cringing at their injuries.

“Oh, geeze.” She whispered, hushed. “…I _told_ you one of us should have come with you, punk.”

Frisk pointed at Papyrus, smiling.

“Nothing he couldn’t handle.” They whispered back. Then, they looked down.

“… I distracted Gaster for as long as I could. And I tried to lead him closer to here. But I got shot down.” They looked up. “Papyrus got me out of danger.”

Despite the situation, Papyrus felt his metaphorical heart swell.

“… well, let me tell ya, you did enough.” Undyne said, looking up at the ceiling, then over her shoulder. “We’re almost ready.”

Papyrus blinked, feeling a little left out of the loop as Undyne looked back at Frisk.

“Mind holding out for a little bit longer? I can’t heal you here. CORE space, remember?”

The Blaster noted that she’d glanced out the shattered CORE window of the control room as she spoke. But Frisk nodded, in understanding.

“I’ll be okay.” They whispered back. “What’s going on?”

Undyne walked over to one of the concrete science benches in the room and set them down, their back up against it.

“A certain bonehead must’ve figured out what we were up to.” She said, her gaze darting up at the ceiling. “… but we gotta keep it down.”

Papyrus blinked, slowly stepping forward into the room.

He could see Alphys, who was now standing at the controls beneath the window. She wiped her forehead, notably receiving the brunt of the CORE’s heat from the open window.

Despite this, she was typing rapidly at the controls. Beside her were a couple of flickering screen displays.

One was full of numbers and diagrams that Papyrus couldn’t quite identify at this distance.

The other appeared to be… video footage?

“You almost done, Alphys?” Undyne asked, quietly. She’d stepped in front of Papyrus, rubbing the back of her neck. The Blaster saw some new scars and scrapes upon her back.

“Give me ten more seconds.” Alphys said, in a loud whisper.

Papyrus gently nudged the captain’s shoulder with his muzzle. His intent was to get some kind of explanation for what was going on.

And it was certainly not for his eye sockets to well up when she turned to face him.

Especially not when he realized the scars were from when she’d been pushed through the window and into the CORE chamber and…

Strong arms wrapped around his muzzle in a firm hug. Papyrus shut his eye sockets, giving a soft whimper.

“Sorry if I worried ya.” He heard Undyne say, hushed. “… You guys had me worried, too.”

Papyrus gave soft whine. She gave the side of his head a scratch as she withdrew, sighing.

Then, she stood up straight, a firm look in her features. Papyrus shook his head, his own expression hardening in focus (he suspected he looked less dignified with tearstains down his muzzle).

“I’ll run you by things quickly, but are about to get crazy real soon. You mind making sure Frisk’s nice and protected?”

Papyrus nodded firmly - and would have saluted if he could. He slowly and carefully stepped towards the human, looking up at the Control panel.

“Undyne.”

The whisper was urgent. Undyne darted forward to the control panel, where Alphys stared firmly at the screens.

“H-he’s got him where we want him.”

Papyrus stared at the two monitors near the buttons, once more. He hadn’t gotten a clear view of the second screen, yet.

It wasn’t video footage. It was a video _feed._

“What do we do?” Alphys whispered.

Papyrus’ sternum grew tight.

On the grainy display was Gaster…

 

… lying pinned beneath Sans’ claws.

 

 

* * *

 

A maddened gasp rose up from the doctor.

The force that had felt so unstoppable and terrifying had come to a screeching halt. Gaster’s eye sockets darted up to his adversary, who seemed to be losing focus in his pain.

With all the strength he could muster, Gaster’s many arms surged forth, grabbing Sans by the sternum and managing to shove the creature off of him. Sans’ claws ripped free of the doctor’s torso, leaving it sagging and torn.

The Blaster stumbled back, and his back leg gave, causing him to collapse to his side.

Gaster heaved in one gasp after another. Sans’ body had fully-reformed -  though it appeared the burden of his injuries had returned with it.

His femur had a crack travelling up it, now - and it was clear to see that the exposure to the CORE energy wasn’t sitting well with the Blaster. His eye socket was flickering between blue and yellow - and he shut it tightly, groaning as it crackled about inside his skull.

Instead of continuing his attack, Sans slowly began pushing himself back towards the shattered window.

A twisted smile appeared on the doctor’s features, though he was still trembling.

The fool didn’t have the energy left to finish him.

And yet…

The doctor frowned, hearing a quiet chuffing through the roar of the CORE.

The beast finally lay still on the steel platform, amongst the window shards. He was chuckling quietly - deliriously - his features screwed up slightly in pain. 

 _< welp.  > _He breathed. _< I guess that’s it, then.  >_

The doctor shakily pulled himself off the platform, shaking with his own laughter.

 ** _WHAT… DID YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE?_** Gaster said, his smile twisted and strange. **_YOUR CHILDISH RAMPAGE ONLY SERVED TO BE YOUR END!_**

His breathing grew haggard, and desperate.

 ** _EVEN NOW, YOU STILL FAIL TO KILL ME!_** He bellowed.

Sans shrugged at that.

_< nah.  >_

Gaster heard a small, scraping sound. He noted the Blaster was steadily digging his claws into the steel beneath him.

_< don’t think the plan was to kill you, doc.  >_

The doctor heard a ‘GACHUNK.’ His gaze darted downwards with a frown.

 

The sound had come from _beneath_ them.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Undyne withdrew from the glowing, blue canister. It sat securely within the large mechanism in the corner of the room, the machine humming to life.

She tried to ignore the sound of Papyrus’ bones, rattling softly. She tried to ignore the sound of Frisk’s shaky and nervous breathing.

“… You sure about this?” Undyne whispered, glancing at the video feed once more.

“I’m sure.” Alphys said, softly. “… If anyone can withstand this, it’s him. The odds are good. A-and we’re out of time.”

Despite the certainty in her voice, there was a pause. The scientist’s claws hovered above the panel. They were trembling.

“You ready?” asked Undyne.

Alphys drew in a breath.

“No.” She said.

 

There was a brief silence, before she reached forward and began to type furiously on the control panel before her.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The entire facility began to hum. Gaster’s eye sockets grew wide as he looked downwards.

The platform they stood upon. The only small part of the CORE chamber’s interior that even had such a thing, jutting out towards the ball of energy itself.

 

… They were standing atop the Control Room.

 

And someone…

_… Someone was messing with the control panel._

Urgency driving his movements, he gestured to summon a Blaster skull -

\- only for nothing to appear by his side.

He gestured again, and again.

He found himself blaming their insolence, before spinning to face the CORE, itself.

Gaster stepped forward to the edge of the platform, prepared to climb down through the window to intervene with whatever futile attempts were being made -

\- and froze, as something in the base of the enormous chamber caught his eye.

The light left his eye sockets, as he watched a glowing, blue liquid branch out through the maze of water channels beneath the CORE itself.

Arcs of blue magic rose from the concoction, up into the huge and crackling CORE. And almost instantly, the heat and roaring of the energy sphere began to subside.

Gaster’s hands balled into fists.

… The CORE was slowly _shrinking_.

And he could hear - barely, above the roar - the clattering of shards (glass and bone), slowly rolling upon the platform he stood upon.

The colours on the CORE’s surface grew cold. Purples, blues and greens began to churn on its surface at it seemed to compress in on itself.

The shards at his feet picked up speed, whipping past him. They went flying, carried by the pull of the CORE itself.

Gaster stared at his creation.

With fear came anger.

With anger came desperation.

He ducked down, his many arms gripping on the surface of the platform as he began to crawl down, through the shattered window of the control room - his hands hovering inches away from the buttons beneath the window -

\- and then he felt a force begin to pull him back.

Gaster felt the forces of the CORE begin to tug him in its direction, and almost instantly his many hands lunged outward, grabbing everything and anything - from the window frames to the broken, jagged shards. Keeping him anchored to the platform.

In his rush, the doctor had dropped a level down. And now, he had a clear view of the inside of the control room.

His gaze focused into a frigid glare.

The infernal scientist had ducked down behind the shelter of one of the benches, and she was now peering back at him, holding her glasses firm against her face. The cold colours of the CORE gleamed brightly in her lenses.

He saw the human, Frisk - injured, but alive. They were crouched low on the tiles, staring directly at him in surprise.

He saw Papyrus, curled and braced against the floor, his claws digging into the tiles as he sheltered Frisk from the force. His eye sockets were focused _past_ the doctor - having the gall to _ignore_ him.

And finally, he saw the captain of the royal guard, near the back of the room.

Before he could process her presence, his gaze was caught by something next to her.

The coolant receptacle. It had a large, empty cylindrical canister currently inserted into it.

Undyne had dug her fingers into the wall beside it, her sharp teeth gritted in strain - but twisting into a grin as soon as their eyes met.

 _“HEY!”_ She shouted over at him. _“THIS LOOK FAMILIAR?!”_

Gaster strained against the forces of the CORE, trying to pull himself into the room to rip every single one of its occupants apart - just as Undyne kicked a leg out to the receptacle, pushing its ‘release’ button.

_“NO? HOW ABOUT A CLOSER LOOK?!”_

The canister disengaged from the receptacle.

Gaster’s eye sockets grew wide as the canister whipped towards him, pulled by the forces of the CORE.

It slammed directly into his torso.

His grip loosened. Several of his arms still clung to the safety of the platform. But the smooth, boiling steel tore from his grasp.

The world was silent, as he slipped free from his anchor to this world.

His gaze landed on the canister before him, seconds before it whipped by him.

The label for Solution Sigma was unmistakable.

His gaze rose to Sans, the beast staring back at him as he managed to keep a firm position on the platform atop the control room. His claws remained fixed into the steel.

Gaster stared at him, as he grew smaller, and smaller. He stared at him as the heat of the CORE burned into his back.

Gaster stared at Sans.

…

 

 

Gaster _focused._

 

 

* * *

 

Papyrus hadn’t felt anything else like it. 

 

He’d felt a lot of things in this room. Fear, pride, sadness, excitement - anger, even. 

 

Too many things, he decided, for this little place.

 

But being pulled at by a strange, imploding force of an undefinable nature had left him lost for words.

The pulling forces were slowly subsiding around him. He was unsure how long the four of them had been sheltering against the pull of the CORE, but it had felt like forever.

Alphys later told him it had only been a few minutes. But he’d felt so concerned, staring out at the CORE itself. He’d stared at the CORE itself, watching one person vanish into it - and only one.

He remembered the terror he’d felt as he watched Gaster shove his brother off his feet - and the clang he’d heard from up above. He remembered the terror he’d felt when the plan his trio of friends had hatched was revealed to him, piece-by-piece.

… But Papyrus also remembered Sans.

He held onto that thought with as much conviction as he could muster, and he felt his bones cease rattling.

He was startled out of his thoughts to hear a wheezy, breathy laugh.

Undyne had collapsed to the floor, back up against the wall next to the coolant receptacle. Alphys was slowly crawling over to her, managing to stand and stumble the rest of the way to collapse into her arms. They two held each other, tightly.

“I _love_ it…” gasped Undyne “… when a plan actually works out.”

Papyrus chirped, standing up with what could pass as a smile. Then, he looked down at Frisk, who slowly sat up beneath his ribcage.

They clutched their phone, and looked up at him - with a smile that didn’t quite reach their eyes.

Papyrus hesitated.

Then, he leaned down, nuzzling them gently.

 _< THAT WAS IMPOSSIBLY BRAVE OF YOU, FRISK.  >_ He said, hoping the intent got through. He felt Frisk’s small arms embrace his muzzle.

A scraping sound from above stopped the quiet celebrations in their tracks.

Undyne’s smile vanished, and she slowly rose from the ground - supported by Alphys.

“Th-that came from the roof.” The lizard said.

The Blaster didn’t hesitate. He darted forward, looking at the video feed.

It had gone dead, for now. He didn’t wait for it to come back online.

Papyrus hurried towards the shattered window. He carefully stepped over the controls, the cooling heat of the CORE chamber meeting him. His forelegs rested on the bottom of the window frame, his head poking out of the Control room.

“What the HELL?! “ Undyne roared from behind him. _“PAPYRUS, GET DOWN FROM THERE!”_

Papyrus, with great care, twisted his head around and looked above the Control Room, to its roof. He slammed a forepaw onto the platform, managing to awkwardly pull himself up on top of the steel surface.

And there, lying motionlessly before him, was his brother.

_< SANS!  >_

Papyrus darted forward. _< SANS! SANS, ARE YOU THERE?  >_

The beast stirred, groggily. With a whine, Papyrus stopped to gently nudge his brother.

He looked over at his injured leg. Papyrus was almost relieved to see it - even though it looked even worse than he’d last seen it.

Seeing it injured, however, was preferable to seeing it vanish.

Papyrus wondered if that was fair of him to think.

_< gr… nn  >_

Sans interrupted his thoughts with a groan, his eye sockets flickering blue.

 _< b_ ** _r_** _o_ ** _?_** _ > _He croaked, woozily.

Papyrus crooned softly.

 _< THERE NOW, BROTHER! IT’S ALRIGHT.  > _He looked up glancing about.

It was no wonder Sans was having trouble focusing. Sans had had little to no shelter from the forces of the CORE’s pull. If not for his weight and his claws, his brother perhaps would have gone flying into the energy ball alongside the doctor.

It had taken every bone in his body (and Alphys’ reasoning) not to blow his cover and try to help Sans during the pull. But his brother had held up against this force before - when he was slightly smaller and lighter. And he’d been capable of doing it again.

The smaller Blaster’s eyes shut, and he let out a small growl. Papyrus gave a deep sigh.

Though, not without driving himself to absolute exhaustion.

Papyrus’ gaze darted over his shoulder, taking in the CORE. The violet swirled upon it - the heat still radiating outwards in spite of the blue coolant, glowing from below.

It made him uneasy.

The larger Blaster trotted around to the other side of his brother, and quickly clamped his jaws on the blue material of his scrapped hood.

 _< JUST ONE MOMENT!  > _He said, muffled as he began to tug his brother towards the hall, back inside the facility. _< I’M GETTING US OUT OF HERE.  >_

_< nn_ **_o… n…_ ** _>_

Papyrus’ gaze returned to Sans, blinking. His brother appeared to be trying to get up, though appeared too weak and shaken to do so. Not to mention, he seemed to have forgotten about his injured leg.

 _< BE CAREFUL WITH THAT!  >_ The taller Blaster huffed, doubling his efforts to pull his brother -

when he heard a low hum in the air.

Papyrus’ spines stood on end. He glanced about, startled. Something… instinctual was pulling at him. He felt like he could hear something… garbed and high-pitched.

_< _ **_w… wa_ ** _it… >_

The taller Blaster looked down at Sans, whose eye sockets were flickering. It seemed as if he were trying to put words together, but his focus hadn’t quite returned, yet.

 

_< wait… _ **_he’s_ ** _… thi_ **_s isn’_ ** _t… >_

 

 

* * *

 

“… this isn’t…”

Undyne’s indignant glare to the ceiling faded away.

She spun to face Alphys, who was staring hard at the CORE. Sweat was beginning to bead on her forehead, as the violet reflected vividly in her glasses.

“… this isn’t right…” She mumbled, taking a step back.

A distant, static roar surrounded them all. It caused the entire facility to tremble, to rumble thunderously as the CORE itself began to pulse. Violet energy swept and churned over its surface.

“What’s happening?” Frisk asked, their voice slightly strained.

Undyne rushed up to Alphys' side.

Several arcs of violet energy were slowly rising from the sphere.

 

 

* * *

 

The halls were again drenched in violet. Papyrus’ gaze darted up at the CORE, as the roar grew louder and louder around them.

_< _ **_r… ru_ ** _n. >_

Papyrus’ gaze dropped to his brother, whose eye sockets had managed to reach a stable white. Sans’ gaze darted up at him, wide-eyed.

_< bro, we need to -  >_

 

 

A skeletal hand grabbed his foreleg from behind.

 

 

And Sans was dragged backwards, the material ripping free of Papyrus’ jaws.

Several hands grasped his brother’s legs, his tail, his spine - a few landed on his skull.

Papyrus instinctively flinched back, seeing the CORE in its entirety. It was a deep violet, and tendrils of energy had burst from its surface. They’d exploded outwards, then curved directly to their target - led by holed hands of Gaster.

Sans gave a start, his eyelights shrinking into pinpricks of fear in his eyesockets. Then, they shut, reopening to reveal flickering, furious blue.

He planted his claws in the steel, straining against the hands. He gave a loud, furious bellow.

Papyrus’ sternum grew tight.

_< YOU -  >_

Then, he darted forward with a howl.

_< YOU LET _ **_GO!!!_ ** _ >_

He managed to grab Sans by his forelimb, his claws clamping on as tightly as he possibly could. Sans flinched, but didn’t protest. He pushed harder against the hands, the tendrils that swamped the CORE chamber.

Papyrus held fast, snarling as he pulled, attempting to step back and bring his brother with him.

He could hear the muffled cries of his friends beneath him.

 

 

* * *

 

Cold horror gripped Frisk’s exhausted body. 

 

“It’s got… it’s got him.” Alphys said, staring at the video feed in horror. “It’s got Sans! He’s got Sans!”

Undyne was moving before the scientist had even finished speaking. She ran towards the shattered window, with a yell.

She grabbed a large shard of glass and threw it out the window at one of the many hands reaching out from the CORE.

“Use _magic!”_ Frisk cried, their voice ending in a croak

“I can’t!” Undyne shouted back. “We’re still in CORE space!”

“C-Close the windows!!” Frisk’s voice almost sounded unrecognisable, even to the human themself. Their throat felt raw, their body trembling.

Alphys was scrambling at the controls, her gaze darted around the buttons. “They’re _broken,_ Frisk!” She yelled, pointedly. “And the shutters aren’t working!”

The human child was slowly staggering to their feet, grasping their phone to their chest.

Their chest ached, their determination severed from the CORE.

“D-Do _something.”_ They whispered.

They heard the scraping of claws overhead. They saw Sans’ back legs appear in the window, suspended by the hands.

 _“Do something!!”_ They cried, hoarsely.

_“NGAAAAAH!!”_

Frisk’s gaze darted to Undyne, who had ripped up one of the science benches from the floor of the room. As debris clattered from its base, she hurled it out the window with a roar.

It passed straight through the tendrils, arcing and landing straight in the coolant with a splash. She staggered through the effort, gritting her teeth in pain and the heat.

“PAPYRUS!!” She roared at the ceiling. “KEEP HOLDING ON!! I’M COMING UP THERE!!”

“No!” Alphys darted over at her. “No, you are not!! There’s too many - h-he could get you, too!”

 _“They can’t fight all those forever!”_ Undyne yelled back. “They need _help!!”_

 _“You’re NOT going up there!!”_ Alphys shrieked, her claws stampeding at the controls. _“I have to try to - “_

Frisk sank to their knees as the two yelled panicked instructions at each other.

They heard the scrape of Papyrus’ claws overhead as he was pulled along, bit by bit. He was the only one anchoring Sans.

Frisk tried to think of a way to help. Something, anything.

They took in a shaky breath, blinking away tears as they saw Sans be dragged just a little further.

They looked down at their phone. Their jetpack was broken, for certain. They were tired and dazed from the many impacts they’d suffered.

_They tried to think of something._

But they could only focus on the tendrils of violet, swarming out from the CORE. They could only think about how Undyne and Alphys wouldn’t be enough. How Papyrus wouldn’t be enough.

How Frisk wouldn’t be enough.

Their determination faltered, for the briefest of moments. There was no other available help. There was nobody else to turn to.

… A moment passed.

 

 

Their gaze dropped down to their phone, once more.

 

* * *

 

_IT’S… STRANGE HOW MUCH A SINGLE PART OF YOU CAN CAUSE SO MUCH SUFFERING._

* * *

 

 

For a moment, Frisk was back in the True Lab. The cold, green tiles, and the haunting, buzzing voice flowing out of the phone’s speaker.

 

 

* * *

 

_IT’S NOT… YOU. IT DOESN’T… IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE YOU…_

 

* * *

 

 

Frisk’s head lifted from the phone. Their hands gripped it tightly.

 

Oh. 

 

 

* * *

 

_ISN’T IT BETTER THIS WAY?_

 

* * *

 

Frisk turned away from the CORE. They stared down the halls, in the direction that the three of them had arrived from, after escaping the CORE Underground.

Standing tall, they lifted their phone to the side of their head.

And called one last person.

 

“I know you’re there.” The human said, firmly, into the speaker. “I know you can hear me.”

 

There was a quiet static buzzing on the other end. But Frisk continued, nonetheless. They tried to stave off their panic - and their anger.

“You’re hiding from this.” They continued into the phone. “You’ve faced enough, and you don’t want to face anymore. I get it, now.”

They spun to look over their shoulder as Undyne lifted a second science bench over her head, throwing it towards the CORE once more. She roared with the effort, then staggered and collapsed on her hands and knees.

Frisk felt their chest ache, and they turned away.

“I know you’re scared!” They told the phone. “I get it! But it’s _not better this way!_ Pretending that you’ve got no part in this - that you’re not responsible - isn’t going to help the people you’ve hurt!”

Something flickered in their mind, and they shut their eyes.

Frisk gritted their teeth at the long-repressed image of dust on their hands. The brief flashes of red and grey.They shut their eyes as they imagined the empty Underground, clouds of white sweeping upon it. The life and colour being swept away from everyone, and everything.

Frisk clutched their sweater. Their sweater dirtied by all elements except dust.

They took in a shuddering gasp, as they imagined the Underground as they’d truly experienced it. Full of life, colour. Full of people. Friends.

Their eyes reopened, in a firm glare, out towards the churning CORE.

“You can’t leave things like this.” They said.

There was another scraping sound from above. Frisk’s voice rose, breaking out of contemplation.

“You can’t hide from this!” They cried over the roar. “And I know you can’t _fix_ all this! But you can _change_ it! So please…”

There was a sudden groan of steel from above as claws were dragged several feet along. Frisk drew in a shaken breath and spun around, watching the tendrils of energy grow curved as their prey lost his grip.

And Frisk called for help.

 

 

* * *

 

Papyrus could hear Undyne beating against the ceiling below, the punches growing weaker and weaker. He could hear Alphys shrieking, speaking at such a pace that Papyrus couldn’t even pick apart her words.

And he could hear Frisk.

He could hear Frisk, calling for help.

Papyrus felt himself being jerked forward, once more. His gaze returned to Sans, who was still straining, more hands grabbing onto him. He looked back up at him, eye sockets dark.

 _< papyrus -  >_ he began.

And then more tendrils surged forth from the looming CORE. More hands shot forward, this time slamming into Papyrus. One pulled a leg out from under him.

The muffled cries grew louder. Papyrus slammed his back legs down, rearing back as his brother’s body cleared the platform, suspended in the air.

Papyrus summoned all the strength that he possibly could, even as he was slowly pulled forward with his brother, inch by inch, towards the vengeful CORE. He held firm, Sans digging his foreclaws onto the edge of the platform, holding on as tight as he possibly could.

He could hear screaming, everywhere and nowhere all at once. Papyrus focused through it, trying to ignore the anger and frustration that the doctor spilled forth. The violet of the CORE seemed to grow brighter and brighter - the light permeating each shadow, each nook and cranny. Staining the entire facility in its constricting hue.

Papyrus looked up in time to see a third wave of tendrils burst forth from the CORE.

He faced them directly. His jaw ached, as he held tightly to Sans’ foreleg. His limbs felt weak, and shaky.

 

And then, something loud and piercing struck through the violet.

 

Sans looked up at him - and then _past_ him. His eye sockets had grown wide.

_< what the -  >_

Something white burst out from the shattered windows behind them. Something amorphous and strange. Papyrus couldn’t place what it was - just some odd, white disc of sorts. An odd, fleshy spiral, with white, square particles flickering about it.

It was stark in the violet light.

Papyrus watched as it seemed to hesitate before the giant sphere of power. It seemed to shudder, and convulse with the force.

 

Then, it seemed to compress into itself, becoming a tiny sphere, itself. It let out an electronic screech.

 

And exploded into hundreds of white tendrils.

 

Papyrus watched, still holding on tight to his brother, as frail, skeletal hands formed on the end of each tendril. They moved to intercept the violet ones that reached out from the CORE, grasping each one forcefully, locking fingers tightly.

The purple tendrils twitched and spasmed. Their own hands tried to loosen their grip - they tried to pull away, tried to retreat. But they only dragged the white tendrils with them.

Papyrus watched as they tugged and wrestled - but the frail, white hands remained steadfast. They began to slowly melt into the violet hands, with a green shimmer.

A scream echoed throughout Papyrus’ mind. The anger and the rage of the doctor vanished from the air around him - as did the violet.

… He realized that he’d never heard Gaster sound so afraid.

He felt himself being pulled forward, the heat of the CORE assailing him from what seemed like all directions. He felt his claws slip free of the platform.

 

The last thing Papyrus saw was the surface of the CORE swirling before him, as green and violet light churned together in agony.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Undyne let out a bellow as Sans, Papyrus and Gaster vanished into the surface of the CORE.

**_“NO!!”_ **

Alphys’ claws were at her mouth, and Frisk started crawling towards the control panel.

“T-Turn it off!” They yelled. “Turn the CORE off!”

Alphys didn’t move, staring at the control panel.

“I can’t.” She croaked.

“Y-You can deactivate it!” Frisk shakily got to their feet, gritting their teeth. “You have to shut it off and - “

The scientist suddenly slammed her fists onto the controls, causing Frisk to jump. Tears were streaking down her face.

_“I-It doesn’t_ **_work_ ** _like - !“_

There was a loud roar, and a shockwave suddenly burst forth from the CORE.

All three were knocked off their feet.

The sudden force sent Alphys, Frisk and Undyne flying across the control room. The captain collided hard into the wall with a grunt, as shards of glass clattered around her body.

 

Undyne lay there, dazed. 

 

Her ears rang. Her vision swam, blinded temporarily by the flash of light.

She reached up to her eyepatch with a groan. It had shifted from the blast, and now her eye stung. She re-adjusted it, the red material properly concealing her damaged eye once more.

Her eye grew wide as she felt the floor rumble.

Her gaze darted to where the others were. Frisk was bubbled in an electric shield, courtesy of Alphys - and they were now sitting within it, dazed and exhausted.

The scientist herself was lying facedown on the tiles, one claw outstretched towards her spell.

It flopped to the tiles, and the shield dissolved. Frisk plopped back down on the ground with a grunt.

“Hey…” Undyne shakily pulled herself to her feet, wincing at a pain in her shoulder. “Alphys, you okay?”

The scientist groaned, still facedown.

The floor rumbled. The facility gave a loud, creaking groan as if in reply to the scientist. The three of them suddenly grew alert, looking around as the ground seemed to tremble.

“… Th-that’s the steel.” Alphys said, having lifted her head off the tiles, her eyes wide. “Th-that’s the steel support.”

Undyne felt the facility rumble, once more. Cracks began to form in the glass of the chamber. It still housed the CORE - though instead of a perfect sphere, the energy ball was beginning to resemble an oval as it shrank down, smaller and smaller.

Despite everything, Undyne found herself staring at it a moment.

“… Huh.” She said. “Never seen that, before.”

“…I-It’s starting to dissolve.” Alphys said, in wonder. “I-it’s finally shutting down.”

The colours of the CORE grew fainter and darker. The bright violet that had swirled about it moments ago was starting to fade, becoming a deep, dark black.

Before the captain could watch any longer, the facility rumbled again.

Alert once more, the captain stepped forward, picking the dazed Frisk off the floor.

“Alright, punk. We gotta go.”

The human grunted in protest as she lifted them up, starting to squirm.

“N-No! Wait!”

Undyne frowned. “Hey, hey! Listen - this place is about to come down, and you’re in no shape for running.” She looked up at Alphys, who had managed to pull herself to her feet.

“You know a good way out of here?” Undyne asked.The scientist nodded, her gaze darting down the hall.

“W-we’re on the right level.” She said, beginning to jog. Undyne hurried after, keeping a tighter hold on Frisk. “The exit - it might be locked because of breach protocol - b-but that’s nothing I can’t fix in a hurry!”

The door came into view mere moments after Alphys mentioned it - and she immediately rushed to work on the door’s side panel, sliding it open and picking at the wires within. The facility rumbled once again, and the scientist didn’t even flinch.

Undyne glanced around, frowning as she watched the cracks travel across the windows of the CORE chamber.

“C’mon, c’mon…”

She felt Frisk struggle in her grip again, and she glared down at the kid.

“Hey, knock it off! You can’t move when you’re all messed up like this!” She frowned. “You humans are pretty fragile, remember?”

Her frown vanished when she saw Frisk’s expression.

“We can’t leave them.” They croaked. “There has to be some way to save them…”

Undyne blinked, startled.

“Frisk, what’re you talking about?”

The human stared up at her, blinking in what seemed like confusion. Then, horror appeared on their features.

They suddenly grasped their head, gritting their teeth. Their small form appeared to be shaking with effort.

                               n                                                                     py   us!

“We have to save Sa s!!” They cried, hoarsely. “We have to save Pa r 

 

The captain felt a chill.

“… What’d you say?” She asked, softly.

The human blinked, suddenly shaking with fatigue. Their hands dropped from their head.

“We… we’ve left…” They murmured.

Their eyes rolled back and they passed out, their small body growing limp in Undyne’s arms.

The captain stared hard at the human, in silence.

“U-Undyne!”

Alphys’ voice caught the captain’s attention as the steel exit door finally slid up into the ceiling. Carrying Frisk close, Undyne darted through, Alphys leading the way. The human child didn’t stir, in spite of the noise.

“Th-This way! We should be able to reach the exterior, soon!”

As Undyne ducked and weaved through broken and malfunctioning traps and defences, she felt a pang in her gut.

She felt… strange.

Hurt.

Afraid.

And for the life of her couldn’t figure out why.

It pissed her off. This whole thing bothered her in a way she couldn’t describe.

She had Alphys accounted for. Frisk, too.

That was everybody.

Undyne gave a quick glance over her shoulder, the tails of her grey eyepatch fluttering into view as she saw the CORE one last time.

… Yeah.

She turned away, her gaze drifting to the tiles passing beneath her as she ran.

 

… That… _had_ to have been everybody…

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

The world fell away from Sans.

 

He’d felt Papyrus’ stalwart grip on his forelimb. He’d felt the searing heat of the CORE come closer and closer to his spine - and then a bright, roaring light blinded his vision.

He felt Papyrus release him. He felt the many hands scatter off of him, as a terrified scream echoed through his mind.

He was blinded, at first. An all-encompassing heat consumed him - and then a swirling, fiery white and grey surrounded him.

He was falling.

Black streaks shot upwards around him as he plunged - to where, he didn’t know. They seemed to slash through the strange space, but not through _him_. It seemed like he was falling down a huge tunnel of glowing white, streaked with black.

Sans twisted around in his fall, trying to make sense of where exactly he was. But before he could put the pieces together, he caught sight of another large shape, plummeting at his own speed.

He was several feet away. His huge, lanky form was being moved about by the forces that pummelled him, but his eyesockets remained closed.

_< papyrus!  > _Sans cried.

There was no response, and Sans did his best to swim through the air towards him as they both fell. His brother must have lost consciousness when they’d lost their footing on the ledge.

Sans’ efforts to close the distance between them were fruitless, however - he barely moved from his position, only succeeding in spinning upside down.

He focused on his brother, stubbornly trying to edge closer. But as his vision tunnelled on Papyrus, his grim expression loosened into surprise.

Sans could see the red of Papyrus’ old and tattered gloves, still wrapped around his brother’s forelegs. They’d been all that remained of his brother’s old outfit, now.

At first, Sans thought they they were finally being ripped away from the force of their fall. But a closer look made Sans’ sternum tighten in horror.

It wasn’t the material that was vanishing.

It was the _colour._

The red in was being ripped away, away and upwards in red, square particles.

The process was slow - but Sans could see it clearly. The slightly warm, yellowish tint of his brother’s bones was being ripped away, leaving behind a cold, greyish white.

Sans drew in a breath.

He looked down at the tattered blue sleeve that remained on his own foreleg. It, too, was slowly losing colour. A stream of blue square particles was drifting upwards from the force of his fall.

Sans’ eye sockets went black.

Desperation drove him now, as he tried to hurl himself at his brother. To do _what,_ Sans had no idea. Somehow, his tempered ability to resign himself to the inevitable wasn’t really kicking in.

And at that moment, something black flashed by his vision.

A swift, stretched shape, not unlike the black streaks that were currently racing by them.

Sans’ face twisted into a furious snarl.

They weren’t alone.

Of course they weren’t. Gaster was here - falling with them.

The doctor still had his many arms, several grasping at his own head and clawing at anything nearby. He seemed to be blindly darting to and fro, the forces of the fall throwing him this way and that.

He was smaller and lighter, of course.

Sans, in spite of the futility of it all, struggled again to hurl himself over to where his brother was. But he spotted Gaster, drifting over to Papyrus’ position.

He felt the flames begin to well up in his jaws as several of Gaster’s many arms lashed out onto the unconscious Blaster.

They gripped his spine and skull -

\- and then, they shoved him away.

The fire died in Sans’ jaws as Papyrus came flying towards him. With a lunge, Sans clamped his jaws around his brother’s upper limb.

His gaze fell onto Gaster.

The monster was spasming. A small, black, spiderlike being twitching and tossing in the forces of the fall.

The curves of his arms were starting to droop - even to grow so formless and tarlike that they simply fell upwards, swept away from the doctor himself as he fell. The black arms were ripped away into nothingness.

His hands still grasped at his skull. Some disintegrated into dust. Others remained, though were no longer physically connected to his body. The rest of his form was a twitching, amorphous mess, trying to retain its usual shape - but failing, as the monster’s legs collapsed into each other, lost in the rest of his black mass of a torso.

Sans watched as Gaster’s bowed head rose. The hands slowly withdrew from his skull, twitching with fatigue and fear.

Their eyes met. Sans froze, as the doctor’s eye lights lost colour.

 

**_“Jump.”_** He pleaded.

 

Sans’ eyesockets narrowed.

He focused, as hard as he possibly could. His head throbbed, his eyesocket crackled, but the telltale flashing of blue and yellow illuminated the air.

Sans watched as the black streaks around him grew shorter and shorter, in the blinding white space. And at the same time, Gaster himself began to lengthen into an indistinct grey and black blur.

He vanished from sight, swept down into nothingness.

As the fall of the Blasters slowed, the black streaks came into focus. Sans could now see they they were rifts - thousands of them. They were all roaring, and Sans winced at their instability.

But he could see, even now, that these rifts weren’t like the ones he was used to.

The black rifts he knew had square particles spewing _out_ of them, repelling all who saw them - except him, of course.

 _These_ ones were travelling in the opposite direction.

Sans didn’t have time to think on it too much. The weight of his brother, and the pressure of his CORE eye was causing a strain he had not felt in a long time.

He focused on a single, large rift.

The light in his eyesocket crackled. He felt something snap just above his eye, but he held focus, still holding onto Papyrus with his jaws as hard as he possibly could.

He felt the forces pull himself towards the rift, and he and his brother were sucked through.

The energy of the rifts was still unstable. Sans braced himself as he felt his already-wounded body being hit against the walls of the tunnel, energy crackling and burning both himself and Papyrus.

He felt his injured leg flare up in pain, but he let himself be carried by the forces, his eye socket squinting in focus.

He’d entered one end of a tunnel. He’d yet to see the exit. He wondered if this particular rift would even have one.

Just as he could bear the pain no longer, the blackness around him was interrupted by a pale flash of light.

A large, flickering rift of grey, pulling the two Blasters towards it.

Sans shut his eyes, as the pain finally overwhelmed him.

As he passed through the strange rift, he hit the ground, finally releasing Papyrus. He heard his brother hit the floor, his bones clattering from the force. Sans rolled a few times with the motion, and then he was still.

 

 

At long last, everything was still.


End file.
